PnF: Lifeleap
by Sols06
Summary: Sometimes people change when they get older, it's a fact of life. But ten-year-old Phineas worries he might lose his friendship with Ferb as the years go by. Answers are given to him in the form of a lifeleap, and Phineas find himself on a terrifying encounter with an unfamiliar stranger: a green-haired teenager. T for emotional scenes. No pairings, no slash.
1. Chapter 1

*******Total Number of Chapters: 20***

***One Chapter Posted Per Day***

**Chapter 1**

"Hey FERB!" the ten-year-old redhead shouted to his brother as he shot up from his blue bed sheets. He turned sideways to look at the purple bed across from him.

There he saw Ferb sleeping soundly beneath his covers, with his mouth slightly open and his hand dangling off the edge, hovering over an open book that was lying on the floor.

"Wake up, sleepy head!" Phineas shouted again, reaching behind himself to grab one of his pillows. He hoisted it above his head and launched it across the room, colliding it squarely with the green-haired face of his brother.

Ferb's eyes opened sleepily, and fixed on the smiling face of Phineas. The white, soft pillow that had now landed on top of Ferb had interrupted and muffled his restful breathing.

Pushing it off, Ferb tossed the pillow back to Phineas, who caught it in surprise. Now, Ferb was sitting with his feet hanging off the edge of his bed, looking at Phineas inquisitively.

"What should we do today?" Phineas asked him as he, too, sat upright on his bed.

Ferb stayed quiet for a moment, before smiling. He turned and grabbed his own purple pillow, and then launched it at Phineas' head.

Phineas felt the soft fabric hit him in the face as it bounced off and landed on the hardwood floor. Leaping off the mattress after it, Phineas dropped his bare feet onto the wood.

"Hey! Not fair!" Phineas giggled, reaching down to pick up the pillow. "I only threw mine to wake you up."

By now, Ferb had also leapt to the floor in front of Phineas. He looked at him and addressed, "I'm a light sleeper."

"No you're not!" Phineas contradicted. "I have to hit you in the face. Like this."

Phineas had turned and swung the pillow around himself in a circle, ending with a clean collide into Ferb. It sent him teetering down onto the wood floor, and Phineas stood over him, grinning satisfactorily.

But Phineas' victory was interrupted by Ferb, who reached up from his place on the floor to grab onto the side of his brother's shirt. With a yank, Phineas landed in surprise on the floor beside his brother.

Ferb tried to stand up again, but Phineas was quick. After only a moment to regain himself, Phineas stopped Ferb's attempt by launching himself overtop of him and pressing on his shoulders as they lay on the floor.

"Pinned ya!" he declared, as Ferb was forced to rest his head back onto the wood.

Ferb only grinned up at him determinedly. With a strong push of both hands, he had shoved his brother off of him and changed the sides. Now, Ferb had his hands on _Phineas'_ shoulders as he stared down at him.

"No," he replied. "I have pinned _you."_

Then Ferb jumped off of Phineas and ran out the bedroom door.

"Come back!" Phineas called out in play, pushing himself up and sprinting after him. Poking his head out the door, he spotted his brother down the hall, heading for the stairs.

A sinister smile crept over Phineas' face as he started the pursuit. The last glimpse Phineas caught of Ferb was his back feet, as he slid on his stomach down the stairs' handrail.

Approaching, Phineas hopped up onto the rail and slid down himself. Sitting with both legs hanging over the side, he glided over it skillfully until he reached the bottom. Here, he flew off the end and landed straight on top of Ferb.

"Boys, boys!" their mom called out as she spotted them wrestling at the base of the stairs. "No fighting!"

"We're not fighting, Mom!" Phineas replied cheerfully as they both froze in their battle.

Ferb popped his head out from underneath Phineas' elbow and added, "We're just having a bit of fun."

"Well, breakfast is almost ready," their mom made known, chuckling at the innocence of her two sons as she returned to the kitchen.

Phineas and Ferb were both still lying on the floor, and found themselves breathing hard after their little tousle.

Phineas reached over and poked Ferb's shoulder with a smile, still lying on top of him.

"Blood brothers…" he started, still catching his breath. "…are brothers forever no matter what."

Finally able to breathe enough to stand up on his feet, Phineas bent down to help Ferb up by the hand. He continued, "But we'll be brothers forever no matter what, too, right Ferb?"

Ferb smiled at him, and nodded. Then, he reached up and gave him a thumb's up. "Definitely."

But now Ferb had changed his hand to hold up the palm. Phineas grinned ecstatically, before taking his own hand and slapping it. Then, they clenched their hands and gave each other a punch on the fists. After contact, Phineas spun around in place, returning to face Ferb as he pulled back his hand and wiggled his fingers happily in a display of fireworks, giggling all the same.

"Phineas! Ferb!" came their mom's hollering voice. "Do you boys want milk or orange juice?"

"Milk, please!" Phineas returned. "And Ferb wants O.J."

Skipping into the kitchen with Ferb following, Phineas hopped up into his chair. Before him already sat a plate of scrambled eggs and pancakes, complete with a cup of syrup beside it in the center of the table.

Across from him, Ferb had arrived at his own plate of food. He grabbed the cup of syrup and poured some over his own breakfast, before reaching over and placing it next to Phineas' plate. Phineas took it with a thankful grin and added the runny mixture to his stack.

Scooping up a few cut pieces of pancake with his fork, Phineas stuck them in his mouth as he enjoyed the homemade breakfast.

"We could put on a big puppet show for the whole neighborhood…" Phineas suggested to Ferb, as he also began to cut his food. "Or, the anti-gravity machine was fun. We could tie a bunch of chairs to balloons and float through the sky this time."

Their mom passed by the table and patted Phineas on the back. She suggested, "Or how about a Platypus Mansion for Perry?"

"That's a great idea, Mom! Ferb, I know what we're going to do today!" Phineas exclaimed. "Perry would love to have a Platypus Mansion. We could make it three stories, with a platypus-sized exercise room and sweat sauna!"

Candace, who had been busy upstairs and had not heard any of the morning conversation, came walking down the steps. She was still actively brushing her hair, and appeared to have only just gotten dressed.

Their mom looked up from the kitchen when she heard footsteps. Upon seeing her daughter, she mentioned, "Well, Candace, it seems the boys have their day planned already. How about you, honey? What's your schedule for today?"

"Oh, yeah, I…" Candace answered haphazardly as she focused on fixing her hair. "Stacy convinced me to go over to Jenny's this afternoon. Apparently her brother just flew in yesterday."

Phineas gulped down the rest of his glass of milk, before peering over to his sister in the livingroom. He asked curiously, "Django was gone?"

"No, actually Jenny has another brother that none of us knew about," Candace explained as she came into the kitchen and took up a plate.

"Oh, that's right," their mom remembered. "I heard about him. He moved out when he was eighteen and didn't keep in touch."

"Yeah," Candace confirmed with a full mouth. "Sad story, really. Jenny says they used to hang out all the time when they were little."

Paying most of her attention to finishing the scrambled eggs quickly, Candace kept talking without a thought. She flung her fork around for effect. "Apparently when he turned fourteen and went into high school he stopped wanting to hang out with her."

Sliding the quickly cleaned plate away, Candace stepped back from the table and elaborated, "Then four years later he moved out and they haven't spoken since. But Stacy'll be here in five minutes to walk over with me, so I have to start getting ready."

With that, she placed the plate in the sink and walked past Phineas. She pointed a finger at him and said directly, "So _don't_ think about trying anything while I'm gone. I'll be back in an hour or two."

But Phineas hadn't paid attention to his sister's request. Instead, he had stopped eating his breakfast and was playing with his fork. His eyes were gazing distantly across the table towards his own brother, sitting in the seat in front of him.

"Hey, Ferb?" Phineas asked softly. His brother looked up and gave him a prompting expression, as if to reply 'yes?'

Phineas stopped for a moment, thinking of what he was trying to say. Instead, he just placed his fork back into the stack of pancakes and mumbled, "…Nothing."


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Phineas and Ferb were sitting outside in the backyard, backs pressed against the tree. They had their hands behind their heads, staring up at the bright blue sky as they hung out next to each other.

The blueprints for the Platypus Mansion took Ferb only a couple of minutes to draw up. Now, after they had called the delivery trucks, all they could do was wait for the supplies to arrive.

The morning air was quiet for at least a few minutes, before the construction project noises and neighborhood kids filled the yard. Phineas was cherishing the few moments of summer breeze before the day's plan officially started.

"…Ferb?" Phineas questioned quietly. Hearing the tone in his voice, Ferb turned over towards him and looked on with concern. Ferb had noticed that Phineas had been a bit less talkative than normal, since that morning.

Seeing Ferb's caring look, Phineas gave a small smile. He continued, "I was just thinking about what Candace was saying at breakfast today…"

Phineas turned his eyes down to his sneaker-covered feet that were sitting in the grass in front of him. Then, he looked back upwards towards his brother. "…Do people really change that much as they get older?"

Ferb followed Phineas' gaze down to his own shoes. He just shrugged.

"What if…" Phineas mumbled towards him. "What if that happens to us?"

Phineas couldn't stop himself from elaborating on the thing that had been bothering him all day. "What if… when we get older, we don't want to be friends anymore?"

Ferb stayed quiet as he pondered Phineas' words. He looked off into the distant clouds above the house.

After a moment of silence, Phineas mentioned, "Will I be different when I'm older?"

Then, Phineas looked back to the tall figure of Ferb, still sitting beside him at the base of the tree. He gave him a little poke on his shoulder. "…Will you be different when you're older?"

Ferb tipped his head downwards at Phineas when he felt the poke. He finally answered, "…I don't want to be."

"Things can't change," Phineas said worriedly. "I like them just the way they are. I don't want you to change."

Then Phineas reached down beside his blue shorts and ran his fingers through the green grass to his right. It felt real, and solid to his hand.

"The future is the future," he pointed out with reflection. "…by definition, we don't know what's out there."

It was then that a low rumbling was heard, and the two of them spotted the top of a truck coming up alongside the house by the driveway. Ferb stood up onto his feet and looked downwards to Phineas, attempting to give him a reassuring smile, which Phineas only half returned.

Offering out a hand, Ferb mentioned to Phineas, "Delivery's here."

Phineas took the hand of Ferb, who helped him up strongly. As he gained his footing, he was left standing beside him in the grass, under the shadow of their tree. Now, they both were watching over the fence as the delivery man hopped out of the cab with a clipboard.

"Delivery for Phineas Flynn?" the man called out to the yard.

Phineas stepped forward, with one last sentence directed towards Ferb. "You're right. Working on a project today will definitely make me feel better."

* * *

As the day went on, the backyard was filled with supplies and cranes. These were directed by Phineas, who pointed out everyone's jobs, and Ferb, who held out the blueprints that he had worked so intently to draw.

Like any normal day, all their friends including Baljeet and Buford, as well as Isabella and the Fireside Girls, came by in mid-morning to offer their own help in the project. They screwed on bolts and helped raise walls, as the beginnings of a huge Platypus Mansion began to form.

But Phineas held back, standing in his hard hat in the grass below, as he watched everyone's work. Yes, he was still enjoying himself, but he wished that the thoughts on his mind would just go away. He wanted to enjoy this nice summer day like he had enjoyed the previous eighty days of this summer vacation.

Though Phineas tried with all his might to ignore it, the thoughts kept popping back up each time his eyes fell onto his brother. Whether he was welding something, or fixing wires, or just reading over the plan, Phineas' brain wondered: Would life be like this in two years? Or three?

The sound of the sliding glass door in the back of the house met Phineas' ears. He looked over to see Candace leaning out of the open door.

"So this is what you two have been up to today?" she hollered. "I said no funny business while I was gone!"

"We were just making it for Perry," Phineas explained to her as he approached the house. "I think he'll like it."

"Hey…" Candace said suspiciously once she heard Phineas' abnormally non-cheery tone. "What happened to you?"

Phineas only came into the house to stand beside her, and watched out the glass door. The construction sounds were muffled now that he was inside. The Fireside Girls, directed by Isabella, were operating one of the cranes, while Ferb was hanging from a harness, still working on screwing a panel on.

Candace stopped herself and looked down at him. "Where's the normal, optimistic and bright Phineas Flynn?"

"I've just been thinking a lot today," Phineas explained. "I don't mean to, but I can't help myself."

"About what?" Candace asked, half-curious and half-concerned.

Phineas' eyes looked up at her after a second, as he asked, "What was he like?"

"Who?" Candace replied in confusion. Then she thought for a moment, and realized, "Oh, Jenny's brother? I dunno, he just seemed bored to be there."

"Were he and Jenny… still friends?" Phineas requested quietly, almost as if he was scared to hear the answer.

"I don't know. Like I said, he just seemed bored to be there," Candace repeated. "They didn't really talk to each other."

"But you said that they were close as kids…" came Phineas' mumble. "Shouldn't they be close when they're grown up, too?"

Candace kept looking outside alongside Phineas. She replied, "Sometimes people change when they get older. It just happens."

Then a thought occurred to Candace, and she kept speaking. "Like, Mom says she had a cousin once. She liked playing doctor on her dolls for her whole time through grade school. Everyone thought she wanted to be a doctor, then she turned thirteen and poof! She decided she would rather become a professional food critic out of the blue."

Candace shrugged as she thought through her story. "She went and got a college degree in it, and everything. Been tasting food ever since."

With a hesitant voice, Phineas observed, "People can really change that much in only one year?"

"Depends," Candace explained. "It's been known to happen to some people. Sometimes they become teenagers and their entire personalities change."

"Do you think… that that could happen to me or to Ferb?" Phineas asked her, looking back out to where the finishing touches were being put on the creation. "…What if something happens in the future, and we're not brothers anymore?"

When Candace also glanced out to the backyard, she saw that Ferb was sitting on the roof of the creation. He saw Phineas inside the house, and waved at him. He looked to be beckoning him outside to see the finished work.

"The future's not here yet," Candace assured him. She put her hand on his back and gently led him out the door. "So right now, you go out there and do whatever it is that you do."

Phineas hobbled outside to land in the grass. He looked up and grinned at Candace, before running over to where Ferb had just jumped off.

"It looks great!" he called out as all of their friends gathered around. "Perry's going to love it!"

But then Phineas looked all around, left and right, at the backyard. He looked up and scratched his head. "But hey, where _is_ Perry?"


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

"The time has come, Perry the Platypus!" Doofenshmirtz hollered at his nemesis. "It ends here!"

Perry straightened up from the battle, and looked left and right. Then he glanced back towards Doofenshmirtz, still standing near his new creation, and shrugged at him. "Grr?"

"Oh, no I wasn't shouting that for any particular _reason,_ I just thought that sounded right, for the moment," Doofenshmirtz explained. "Pretty good there, eh?"

Perry just straightened his hat, and got down into a fighting-ready position. He scowled at him.

"Eh, ah yes, let me trap you first," Doofenshmirtz remembered, pulling out a box with a single red button from out of his lab coat. When he had pressed it, a clamp came out of the floor beneath the platypus' feet and grasped hard onto his tail.

"A platypus can't fight without his tail!" he declared. Then he waltzed over and started to circle him. "Wassa matter, Peerrrryyyy, clamp got your tail?"

Doofenshmirtz stopped and pointed at himself. "That just came to me! Annyyyway, you're probably wondering what my newest scheme is today?"

He came over to the metal contraption that sat in the middle of the room. Throwing his arms at it, he shouted, "May I present… the FLOPINATOR!"

Perry tried to run out of his trap, but the claw held a hard grip on his tail, and only his webbed feet slid on the polished metal floor. After trying to run in place, he gave up for the moment to listen to Doofenshmirtz continue.

By now, the platypus' nemesis had went over to the corner of the room and pulled a huge, oversized lever. Following some mechanical noises, the large accordion-like roof came unfolding off of the building and let them see the bright blue sky.

Doofenshmirtz grabbed onto the handlebars that were attached to the side of his new inator, and wheeled it easily to the side. He left it there as he began to speak, using exaggerated hand motions.

"It _flops_ people of the Tri-State Area, back and forth with each other!" he explained. "With my Flopinator, the citizens won't know what hit them! The car salesmen will be flopped with elevator repairmen, and the hot dog vendors with supermarket greeters!"

Doofenshmirtz cackled, "When the people realize that they've been flopped with someone else, it'll be mayhem! Complete MAYHEM, Perry the Platypus!"

The scientist kept pacing as he linked his fingers together to explain, "When all chaos happens, I'll sweep in and take over!"

Now Perry tried even harder to escape, when his eyes fell onto another invention that sat in the kitchen. It was a steel box with some mechanisms attached to it, and had been placed on the countertop.

Perry gestured to it, and gave an accusative "Grr!"

"What, that?" Doofenshmirtz reacted. "That's just for my toast."

Keeping his eyes on him, Perry squinted as if to demand the truth, tapping his webbed foot on the shiny floor.

"No, really!" Doofenshmirtz insisted. "It's a time machine for my toast."

Crossing his arms, Perry ignored the fact that he was still in a trap and just glared at his enemy with doubt.

"Hey, a guy's not allowed to have a time machine just because he's evil?" Doofenshmirtz defended. "I don't like burnt toast."

He came over to the kitchen and pointed at a toaster that sat in the corner of the wall. "See, this thing must be broken, or something. No matter what setting it's on, it always always burns the toast. I called the building's super, but he keeps insisting that it works fine."

Then Doofenshmirtz pointed at the contraption. "So I made a time machine. If I turn time back, then the toast turns out a nice golden-brown color! Perfect to melt my butter!"

Perry kept his glare.

"It's not evil! Sure I _could_ do something evil with it, later maybe," Doofenshmirtz speculated. Then he waved it off. "But I assure you, Perry the Platypus. Today I use my Flopinator!"

Doofenshmirtz then ran over to his machine, reaching for the start button. When it had been pressed, the mechanisms whirred as the invention began to power up. Perry reacted by struggling once more, growling as he tried to fight his way free.

Then, it occurred to him to use one of his karate moves. He leapt upwards and did a curving backflip over the clamp. When he was at the top of the arch, he could slide his tail easily out of the grabbers.

Landing skillfully on his two feet and one hand, Perry looked upwards to the evil scientist standing near his masterpiece. The platypus sprinted forward, flying through the air to kick Doofenshmirtz in the face.

When his nemesis was down, Perry turned to the inator. After another spinning whirl, Perry slapped his tail sideways onto the off button.

Looking up from the floor, Doofenshmirtz pointed towards the machine. It was now rolling across the lab floor from Perry's momentum.

"Ooohhh, now look what you did!" Doofenshmirtz shouted. "Catch it, Perry the Platypus!"

But Perry's attempts did nothing, as the loosely rolling wheels propelled the machine just far enough that it caught on a stray wire. It tipped over and crashed into a heap near the kitchen.

"Aahh! Look, you broke it! AND my toast time machine," Doofenshmirtz moaned. "And you spilled my silverware everywhere."

Perry peered into the kitchen, where he saw the metal pile fallen over on the floor. Then he looked back up at his nemesis.

"Well? What are you waiting for?" Doofenshmirtz asked. Then he tossed his finger towards the front door. "You _obviously_ broke it. You've thwarted me already, Perry the Platypus."

Perry just kept looking back and forth between him and the sparking inator.

"What, it's not like it'll still work," Doofenshmirtz reminded him. "Is it going to… I don't know, _flop somebody through time_ or something? Like THAT would happen."

Taking a last glance at the mashed-up mass of machinery, Perry paused with a moment of thought. Then, he turned and headed for the door.

"Thank you, Perry the Platypus. Leave me be, to mourn about it in darkness!" Doofenshmirtz shouted after him.

But, as the orange tail of Perry was seen disappearing around the corner, the fused parts of the Flopinator sat still in the kitchen. A few bits of electricity sparked over it, as the targeting light pulsed slowly and steadily.

* * *

When Perry returned to the Flynn-Fletcher residence, growling happily through the back door, he was scooped up by an awaiting Phineas.

"Oh, there you are, Perry!" he said as he cuddled him. Then, he lifted him up by the under-arms and showed him a large platypus-themed building sitting in the backyard. "Look what we made for you!"

"Grr," Perry answered as he examined the structure. Phineas set him down through one of the doors, specially designed to be his size.

"He likes it!" Phineas observed, as Perry went all throughout the little rooms.

Yet, only an hour later, Phineas was a little disappointed to find their creation had magically disappeared, Perry again along with it.

"I hope he got to have some fun with it, before it left like all our other projects," Phineas mentioned to Ferb, as they all came in for their mom's home-cooked dinner.

In reality, Perry HAD liked it, a lot. So much, even, that he had decided to use the huge lawn elevator to move it down into his lair. Though he had already thwarted Doofenshmirtz for the day, Perry wanted to make extra sure that no other random occurrence might dismantle the thing. After all, a platypus needed another place to disappear to every once and a while, other than his nemesis' lab, right?

"Another day seized, eh Ferb?" Phineas commented after they had hopped into their pajamas for the night. Ferb nodded in reply as he slipped under the covers.

"Hard to think that there are only 24 left…" Phineas whispered distantly. His mind had regrettably fallen backwards towards his thoughts earlier in the day. "I wish right now would last forever."

"There's 104 more next summer," Ferb reassured him. But Phineas kept staring at the ceiling.

"And the summer after that…" Phineas added. "But then two more summers later, we'd be in _high school._ What about then?"

Ferb turned a bit so that he could pull his sheets over his head. He yawned sleepily, "It's not here yet."

"Yeah... yeah, you're right," Phineas agreed partly to himself. "It's not like me to be thinking about stuff like that. G'night, Ferb."

Phineas clicked off the light and pulled up his own bedsheets. Resting his head on the pillow, he closed his eyes for some much-needed sleep.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Phineas blinked a bit, to find that he was standing in the middle of the front hallway. He wondered how he got here; hadn't he just been sleeping in his bed?

But then Phineas looked downwards to his feet. He had realized with surprise that he was standing a good foot taller than he normally did, and was wearing longer pants.

Tipping his eyes back up, Phineas looked all around his slightly-longer hands and arms in confusion. He then peered sideways into one of the house's back rooms.

There, he caught quite a surprise to see that half of the furniture had been rearranged. Instead of a second couch in the back room, there sat a large, grand piano. In the front livingroom, the couch wasn't the same. It seemed newer and less worn than their normal one. Beneath the coffee table was a different rug, and the coffee table itself had acquired one or two more stains on it.

Pushing his feet cautiously through the house, Phineas peeked into the other rooms, seeing similar sights. Where were his parents? Who had moved everything and changed it all?

Coming around again to the back, Phineas bothered to glance out to the backyard. He saw with shock that their own tree had thickened and grew more leaves. Overall, it seemed to have grown quite a bit.

Holding his hands readily at his sides, Phineas slowly backed away with opening eyes. He didn't know what to do. Soon, he found himself running back into the center of the house in a panic.

He sprinted around a corner, where he almost bumped straight into a very tall teenager, who was standing in the hallway. He locked wide-eyed gazes with him for a second, before Phineas' open mouth frowned, and he tripped backwards over his feet.

"Who…? Who…?" Phineas started, attempting to hobble back up from the floor. He stumbled on his hands and knees as he was overcome with fright, and headed back around the corner again, towards the steps.

He thought he heard the strange guy shout something at him as he retreated. Grasping the door handle of the closet beneath the steps, Phineas flung it open and leapt inside. He didn't dare turn on the light, as he shut the door behind him and huddled in the corner.

There were strange people in his house. Somehow, he had entered a world where this house wasn't his… other people lived and inhabited this place. It was a nightmare, he was dreaming and if he waited long enough, he would definitely wake up.

Cuddling his knees next to some boxes, Phineas shut his eyes and covered his ears. Muffled voices spoke near the door, but Phineas ignored them. He couldn't tell what they were saying, anyway.

A couple of times he heard a light knock on the closet door, but he wouldn't open it for anything. He would stay here until he woke up from this dream, he would.

After what felt like hours—it could have been, he didn't know—the occasional knocking had stopped. Through the dark corners of the closet, Phineas thought he saw a soft white light. It grew, until Phineas realized that it wasn't physically in the closet, it was only on his vision.

Shooting upright in his bed, Phineas breathed heavily and looked around. He was back in his own house, furnished with his own bed and familiar bookcases. Slowly, he began to calm down, as the remnants of his nightmare slid away. The recognizable sights around him brought comfort, as he glanced over to his clock.

It was 6:48am, twelve minutes before he would have normally woken up. Morning sun was resonating in through the window, and Phineas caught a glance of Ferb, still sleeping with his head on the pillow on the bed across.

Now that he was safely back home, Phineas hopped off of the side of his mattress. He would let his brother sleep for another fifteen minutes before he woke him up with a smack in the face.

* * *

Today after breakfast, the two of them decided to go with their previous idea of balloon-propelled flying chairs. All their friends had quite a blast with it, especially Buford, who apparently had been wanting to do that all his life.

As usual, after they had hopped off the rides and into the backyard, their mom called them all in for snacks. Berry popsicles were especially delicious on a warm, summer day.

Phineas was feeling a lot better while he was surrounded by his friends on his and Ferb's inventions. Even when the chairs were gone and they were all sitting together on the floor of the house, licking popsicles, did Phineas feel fine.

Yet, when Isabella's mom called her back, and Baljeet and Buford announced it was getting late, Phineas was left to sit alone with his brother on the couch, as the orange sun set behind them.

His popsicle was almost gone, as Phineas sucked on the last bit at the bottom of the stick. Turning over to Ferb, who had just finished his, Phineas couldn't stop himself from voicing his thoughts.

"Hey, Ferb?" he spoke quietly. Ferb turned to him attentively. Phineas looked back and continued, "I had a funny dream last night."

When Ferb nodded promptly, Phineas explained, "I was in our house… but things were different. All the furniture was changed."

Taking a gulp, he recalled, "And there was a guy there. A strange teenage guy."

Then Phineas had paused. Ferb's eyebrows cocked as he waited for the continuation. Finally, Phineas did speak.

"Well… he had green hair," Phineas mumbled. Then he quickly added, "But he wasn't you. There's definitely no way he could've been you. He was… old, and grown up."

Phineas played with his thumbs in his lap. "And so, I knew I was trespassing in his house, and I was afraid of what he might do. So I ran and hid in the closet.

"…I wished you were there with me, Ferb. It was so lonely there in the dark," Phineas whispered towards his brother. Then he snuck up and gave him a hug.

Putting his arm around Phineas' shoulder, Ferb returned, "I'm not going anywhere."

After a second, Phineas was able to remind himself, "And… it was just a dream, anyway. I'm glad that I woke up."


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

Phineas and Ferb sat on the couch for the rest of the evening, watching some nighttime television shows. The sky had grown to a dark blue color, and Phineas had found himself slowly nodding off, on Ferb's shoulder. After a full day of inventing, Phineas couldn't keep his eyes open for more than a few minutes.

The muffled sounds around him were now only a low monotonous tone, and before he had even realized he had fallen asleep, he had opened his eyes gradually to notice he was sleeping once again in his own bed.

Tipping his eyes up, he took a look at the digital clock. 3am. Phineas realized that he must have conked out on the couch, and was brought up for the night by Ferb and their dad.

Repositioning himself, Phineas turned to lay on his other side, haphazardly searching through the darkness towards Ferb's bed. Then he saw that the purple sheet was scrunched up, and the bed was vacant.

"Ferb…?" Phineas whispered into the air. He sat slightly upright on his pillow, and grabbed his comforter in his hands, pulling it up to his nose. Somehow, though he had fallen asleep on the couch …he was wearing his pajamas. And… something felt funny about him as he lay beneath his sheets.

Beginning to shiver, Phineas spoke almost silently out into the darkness, "F-F-Ferb…?"

Just then Phineas heard a shuffling sound, and saw a dark figure moving about in the corner of the room. At first, Phineas thought it could have been his dad, but on closer examination he realized that it wasn't. Phineas didn't recognize this shadowed outline.

"Who… who's there?" he piped up quietly. At this, the tall silhouette moved over to Phineas' bedside and appeared to bend down. When Phineas realized that he had caught the stranger's attention, his eyes grew circular, and he tried not to whimper. A long, dark arm reached over and flicked on the light that sat on the nightstand.

"It's just me," the older teenager said, once the yellow light had illuminated the area closest to the lamp. A few dim shadows were still cast over his face. "Just me."

Phineas kept his widened eyes and his frown, scrunching the sheets closer to his face. That voice. He knew that voice; but it was coming out of the mouth of some teenager that he didn't recognize.

"I got up to get a drink," the stranger whispered, putting a hand on Phineas' leg as he stood up again. "Go back to sleep."

Phineas watched him quietly as he went over to the purple bed across the room, and slumped down onto it. He rolled over under the covers until Phineas could only see his back and the shape of his shoulders under the sheets.

Ducking his head beneath his own bedsheet, Phineas shut his eyes tightly. He winced in fear as he hid under the covers, and couldn't stop himself from trembling.

_Fall asleep, fall asleep..._ he told himself. If he could drift off again, he knew he could wake up from this nightmare. This wasn't real, it just couldn't be. Ferb was ten years old, and it was still summer vacation. They hadn't even gone back to school yet.

After a few minutes of what seemed to Phineas to be restless sleep, he did finally begin to close his eyes. When he awoke, he blinked his eyes at his normal time of 6:59am, right before the clock turned to 7. Phineas smiled when he saw the bright morning air rolling in from the window. He had made it through the night, and was back in his own room.

"Hey, Ferb! I-" Phineas started, shooting upright from the bed. But the words were taken right out of his mouth, and Phineas squeaked a little bit as he quickly stopped talking. He had turned and glanced across the floor to his brother's bed.

There, still sleeping in the bed across, was the odd teenager. His green hair was slightly long and uncombed as he pressed his tired cheek against the pillow. A huge, teenager-sized foot was sticking out from the bottom of the covers, with a white sock half fallen off the ankle. His left arm was dangling off the side of the bed, and it was long enough that the knuckles were resting on the floor. His right one was curled around the bottom of his pillow, as it was squished and folded to his head. And he was snoring. Rather loudly.

Phineas was frozen under his covers. He shook his head to try to clear it. Though he had fallen asleep, he had woken up still in his nightmare.

There was a teenager sleeping in Ferb's bed; he had Ferb's hair, and he _sounded_ like Ferb. But he wasn't Ferb, he didn't even look like him, to Phineas. Except for maybe his nose.

Pulling his knees—which were still strangely long—up to his chest, Phineas just stared at the person in Ferb's bed. Still deep in sleep, he snorted and repositioned to his back, dragging his arm up to his side.

Phineas stayed as silent as he could. He couldn't possibly _wake_ this guy _up._ He was a stranger in Phineas' house. Or… was Phineas a stranger in HIS house? In any case, Phineas just scrunched his arms close to himself and kept careful watch on him.

Simply staring, Phineas noticed as the clock turned to 7:05. Then, it switched to 7:10 with the guy in the bed changing little, aside from the occasional turn or breath. Then, when the digital display flipped to 7:15, a loud buzzer rang throughout the room with an annoying ringing.

The teen muttered something, lifting up one arm to hit the top of the alarm. He tipped up his sleepy eyes as his scruffy green hair rested around his face. He glanced at the clock, and then over to Phineas.

"Where's m—" he started through sleepiness. He was in the process of pushing his covers off of himself as he tried again. "Where's my pillow?"

Phineas kept staring at him; he was confused. There was a pillow right under that guy's head that he had just been sleeping on. So Phineas didn't answer.

"Nevermind," he mumbled, as he got up off the bed. Then he took a second glance at the clock, and his face grew a look of realization. He grabbed for a t-shirt and pants and began to throw them on, saying, "Shoot, we're going to be late."

Trying to hide under his covers, Phineas watched with only one peeking eye as the teenager fumbled around with his jeans and tried to fix his uncombed hair. Phineas felt uncomfortable and out-of-place in what seemed to be this teenager's bedroom. Didn't that guy notice that Phineas was a stranger, watching him from under the nearby covers?

But when the teenager had gotten himself fully dressed, he looked over to Phineas, who was still sitting under his covers, hugging his legs and staring upwards at him. The tall teen's eyebrows moved sideways as he looked at him with confusion.

"Phineas?" he started. "Aren't you going to get dressed?"

Frozen, Phineas felt his heart stop. This guy was talking to him. This random stranger who apparently lived in his house had just directly addressed _him_. What was he supposed to do?

Thankfully, Phineas could breathe again when the teenager only shrugged, and left the room out the door. The bedroom was left empty, as Phineas spotted a long pants leg disappearing into the hallway.

In the quietness, Phineas took a moment to shake his head in uncertainty. Then he slowly lifted the sheets off of himself, pushing his feet over the side. Standing up, terror and unfamiliarity struck him, and Phineas couldn't think of anything else to do, but leave the room to follow him. It seemed that he was going downstairs into the kitchen.

"Morning, boys!" came the sound of their mom's voice. At this welcoming greeting, Phineas forgot his fear for only a moment and sped up his run as he fell down the steps and turned the corner. There, he saw his mom fixing some waffles by the stove.

"Mom!" Phineas called out, running up to hug her. "I'm glad that you're still here!"

"What's wrong, Phineas?" she asked in concern as she pulled back and looked at him. But Phineas couldn't think of what to tell her.

That teenage guy was standing next to him, and had approached the counter. Phineas watched his mom look at the two of them and remark, "Well, I made some waffles for you boys. I just took them out, and was getting the butter."

She placed a plate on the counter, and the guy beside Phineas took one off the top with his hand, replying, "No time, Mom."

Then he stuck it in his mouth and proceeded to the doorway, where he grabbed a black bookbag. He said muffled through his breakfast, "Bus is here in five minutes."

Using his teeth to hold his food, he held his bag in one hand and opened the front door with the other. Flinging the bag over his shoulder, he jumped down the front steps towards the sidewalk. Phineas was left standing in the kitchen as he watched the scene.

Then Phineas looked all around at the now-empty house and livingroom. He looked at the kitchen as if he was searching for something. Finally, he turned and looked towards his mom and stuttered, "Wha—what happened to Ferb?"

"What do you mean, honey?" she responded quickly. "Is there something wrong with him?"

Phineas paused to stare at his mom. Then he lifted a limp finger to point out at the sidewalk.

"If that's—?" Phineas mumbled. Then he reached upwards and held his hand high above his head. "—How did…?"

She smiled and laughed. "I know, it's almost as if he grew a few inches overnight! It's hard to believe he'll be eighteen in only five months."

"Eigh—?" Phineas choked on the word. "Eighteen?"

His mom came around him to clean up the dishes, and in passing ruffled Phineas' hair, saying, "Oh but don't worry, sweetie. You're only four months apart, you'll be there soon enough."

Glancing downwards, Phineas held out his arms as he looked at his chest. "…Me?"

He _had_ noticed that his arms and legs were decently longer, and he was standing abnormally higher that usual.

His mom noticed him look at himself, and realized with a point, "You're still in your PJ's! Better go and get dressed fast, or else you'll really be late for school."

But instead of running up to his bedroom like his mom wanted, Phineas moved over towards the window in the front room. He stared distantly at the tall, green-haired figure that was scanning the street for the bus. It wasn't Ferb. It couldn't possibly be Ferb.

Then, however, Phineas noticed the same white light overtake his eyes. When it dissipated, he now realized that he wasn't standing in the front room, but in the back room beside the couch. He was still staring out a window, but it was the sliding glass door instead. He was still looking at a person, but it wasn't a strange teenager. It was the comfortingly recognizable shape of ten-year-old Ferb, standing out in the backyard.

"FERB!" Phineas called out, flinging the door open. As he ran through the grass he realized that he was his old height again. Ferb was surprised to be suddenly hugged, and looked down in confusion at Phineas.

"I had another horrible dream last night," Phineas explained. "…And I think that I just woke up from it."

When Ferb gave him a look of continuation, Phineas kept elaborating, "But I woke up standing in the middle of the house… I don't remember ever getting out of bed."

Phineas returned to hug Ferb again. "But you're you again, so everything is okay."

Then Phineas looked further out to the backyard and saw their normal tree, and all its regular leaves. He mentioned, "…And I really don't want to have that dream again. It was so weird and different and scary. I want things to stay right here, just the way they are."


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

That day's project went along like any other normal day. The one thing abnormal about it, though, was something that everyone noticed. The usually optimistic, giddy, and helpful Phineas was not-so-optimistic, giddy, and helpful today. When things were odd with Phineas, even Buford noticed it.

"Whatsa matter, Phineas?" Isabella asked sweetly after the construction project was on the way.

Delayed, Phineas glanced haphazardly up from his paper. Isabella could tell from his eyes that he wasn't paying as much attention to the present situation as he should have been.

"Oh, I'm just… I'm just not feeling really good today," he mumbled. Baljeet and Buford, as well as Ferb, had appeared around him.

"What? Flu got you?" Buford suggested in question. Phineas merely shook his head.

"No… no," he started. Then he looked up at all the caring faces around him, and showed a smile. "Well, I was telling Ferb about it. I had these dreams, just two of them."

"Were they scary?" Baljeet piped up. He was then elbowed by Buford.

"He wouldn't be scared if they weren't scary," Buford pointed out.

Isabella gave them a little glare, before turning back to Phineas. She gently asked, "What's bothering you, Phineas?"

"In the… in the dream," he began. "I was in the house. But it wasn't the same… Things were changed. And there was a guy there."

Phineas tried to stop, but all his friends were listening intently. He was forced to continue, "…He had green hair, and he slept in Ferb's bed. He called Mom 'mom,' and Mom told me that he was Ferb."

Then Phineas closed his eyes, trying to resist a frightful shutter. "But he wasn't Ferb, he couldn'tve been him. This guy was _eighteen years old."_

Stretching his arms up, Phineas pulled his fingers as high as he could go. "And he was reeeaaalllly tall. And his FEET were _huge!_ I was… I was scared of him."

Taking a glimpse over to Ferb, Phineas tried to smile and pointed at him. "Ferb's ten years old, and he's right there. There was _nooo_ way that that other guy was Ferb."

When Phineas had finished, all his friends stayed silent for a moment, until Isabella remarked, "Wow, that does sound like a scary dream."

"Yeah," Baljeet agreed. "To wake up and find your whole life is different."

Only a few seconds later, a loud construction sound made them all jump. The group looked up, to see the Fireside Girls putting on the last pieces of the project.

"Five meters of aluminum tubing in place!" Gretchen shouted from the top, hands cupped around her mouth.

"C'mon, guys," Phineas led them, heading towards the construction to put on the finishing touches.

* * *

It was 11 o'clock at night, and Phineas couldn't sleep. One reason was because he feared he might slip back into his nightmare if he closed his eyes. But the other was that he simply wasn't tired. Maybe it was his thoughts that were keeping him up.

He was staring at the ceiling, with his mind running. Thoughts were flowing through his brain, threatening to escape. Perhaps they needed to escape; all Phineas wanted was somebody to talk to.

Lifting his head off his pillow, Phineas looked across the room to where Ferb was sleeping in his own bed. He opened his mouth and whispered, "Hey, Ferb?"

But Ferb just kept sleeping soundly, and snorted a little.

Sticking his bare feet out of his covers, Phineas hopped down onto the floor. He tiptoed over to Ferb's bedside and drew out a finger, reaching over to poke him in the shoulder. "Ferb. Ferb, wake up."

Ferb's eyes blinked open slightly, and he tipped them to look at the clock. He looked back to Phineas. "Something on your mind?"

"Yeah," Phineas nodded. He jumped onto the bed as his brother sat upright. Phineas looked down and traced the threads of the fabric with his finger. "I can't stop thinking about it."

Keeping his eyes on Phineas, Ferb let him continue with a nodding gesture.

"I know both you and Candace told me that now is now, and that the future isn't here yet," Phineas tried to assure himself. "But seeing what it could be like, even if it's in a dream, makes me scared to know that the future is going to come eventually, no matter what."

Phineas was only looking at his feet that were dangling off the edge. "Eighteen is so far away… A lot can happen in eight years."

With a little whimper, Phineas glanced back up to the familiar and encouraging face of Ferb. But that didn't help his churning thoughts. "…_Anything_ could've happened in eight years. We could have stopped liking the things we like now, or we could have stopped building things, or caring about summer… Or—or… we could have had some horrible fight at one point, and stopped being friends. Eight years is a long time."

Sighing, Phineas put his hands on his knees. "I was scared of that guy for a couple of reasons… One, was that he was a stranger, and I was in a strange house. But I—"

Phineas found himself stopping in mid-sentence, as he had to take a breath. It came out shakily. "—If any one of those things are our future, I didn't want to have to face it myself."

Pulling his covers off of his legs, Ferb crawled out and came over to sit beside Phineas. He dangled his feet off the edge, just like his brother's. Eventually, he spoke up, "Did I seem like that? When you talked to me in your dream?"

A look of perplexion crossed Phineas' face as he looked back towards Ferb. It was weird that Ferb was using words referring to this teenager as himself. But Ferb hadn't seen that guy; he didn't know how different he really was.

"Well, I didn't really talk to him at all. I was trying to avoid him," Phineas elaborated.

Ferb tipped his head a bit. He looked a little let down.

"Oh, no. No, I wasn't avoiding _you_, Ferb. I'd never avoid you," Phineas quickly reacted. Then he hesitated with an exhale. "…I was avoiding _him._ That strange teenager in our house."

Phineas kept looking at Ferb beside him, and saw that he still held an explanation-seeking look in his eyes. So Phineas repositioned himself to sit with his legs under him, in order to better talk to Ferb.

"He had green hair, yeah. But that doesn't mean he's you. You're you, right there. And you're my brother," Phineas spoke slowly as he reached up a finger to point at him. Then he continued distantly through a voice of thought. "That guy… I don't know what he was. He was imaginary… he was in a dream. He was a figment of the future, maybe. But he wasn't you."

After a second, Phineas smiled at him. "You're the only you."

Then, Phineas was able leap off the edge of the bed and onto the floor, staring across the way towards his own bed. He yawned hugely.

"I'm… I'm getting pretty tired now," Phineas admitted as he trudged back to his own bed. Then he looked over his shoulder up at his brother.

"…Thanks, Ferb," Phineas whispered. He smiled a thankful smile. "I know you're always a really good listener."


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

Phineas hugged close to his pillow as he scrunched up his knees under his covers. He didn't want to open his eyes to the morning yet, even though his mind was telling him it was nearing 7am already. But alas, his lids blinked until he left them open.

The room was bright, and Phineas found himself staring at the wall. He was frozen in place, not wanting to dare look at the other side of the room, lest he saw what he dreaded. Yet, he couldn't stop himself, and finally turned slowly beneath his sheets, to glance at the purple bed.

But Phineas smiled joyfully when he spotted his own brother sleeping on the mattress. The clothes on the floor were still arranged in the same manner that he had left them when he had fallen asleep the previous night.

"Ferb!" Phineas shouted, shooting upright in the bed. All in the same motion, he had swept the pillow out from under him and flung it across the room at Ferb's face. "I didn't have any dreams last night!"

From his place beneath Phineas' pillow, Ferb showed his mouth and smiled. Then he reached a hand out and gave him a thumb's up.

"We need to _do_ something today," Phineas declared. "I know that we've done stuff every other day, too. But we extra especially need to do something today. I mean, we only have 21 days left of summer, counting today."

Looking to the corner of his eye, Phineas put his hand on his chin and contemplated hard. "We need to do something huge and summer-related. Liiiike…"

He snapped his fingers and pointed at Ferb. "A giant sprinkler that we can launch ourselves through!"

Phineas' orange phone was sitting on the nightstand, and he grabbed for it. He said distractedly and directed to Ferb, "We're going to need five shipments of titanium bars, a few coils of fabric-based hoses. Oh—and a permit for an attachment to the city's water supply…"

* * *

Only one button was needed to call their usual industrial supplier. Within the hour, a couple truckloads of materials were dropped by, and Phineas gladly signed for them.

"…Yes, yes I am," he finished, leaving the fence gate and heading to the pile of stuff in the backyard. He waved to Ferb at the top, who was already using their newly-invented Pneumatic Lifter to move the raw metal into a smelting kiln.

"Hi, Phineas," came a familiar, sing-songy voice. "Whatcha dooooin?"

"Hi, Isabella!" Phineas returned. He pointed up to where Ferb was stacking a few freshly-created parts to cool. "We're making a big sprinkler. After all, there's only 21 days left of summer and we haven't even done that yet!"

"Sounds like a… blast," came Buford's voice. He was chuckling as he entered in through the back gate, with Baljeet behind him.

"I don't… get it," Baljeet mentioned.

Buford waved his hand. "You know, sprinkler…? Blast… Oh, nevermind."

"We already drew up the blueprints and Ferb is almost done with the base frame," Phineas made known. "And that reminds me, we need to get some water life vests. And maybe we can launch ourselves through it with a giant rubber band!"

He walked through the grass to the other side of the lawn, drawing out his finger to point at a spot. "We can put a swimming pool over there, and land in it."

But with a staggering reaction, Phineas suddenly put his hand down. He stepped backwards a bit when he noticed a little white light in his vision. It blurred over his eyes until he couldn't see anything.

"Wha-?" he started, attempting difficultly to blink it away. He closed his eyes and rubbed them, until he realized that he was sitting on something comfortable.

Running his hand beside where he sat, Phineas made it out to be a bed. With his eyes tipped downwards, the world came into focus, and he realized that he was sitting on Ferb's bed.

He shook his head to get some sense into it, and looked at the dark and barely-lit room. The only light was coming from a dim lamp that had been set on the nearby desk.

Phineas leapt backwards in terrified surprise and almost fell off the side of the bed once he had noticed the person who was sitting in the chair. It was that guy, that green-haired teenager. He was leaning on the desk with one palm over his forehead, and his other hand holding a pencil. His shoulders were slumped as he stared at his paper. A couple thick textbooks were piled on the desk surface beside him.

When he noticed Phineas' sudden reaction, his eyes turned to face him. Eyebrows raised slightly, he set down his pencil and whispered, "Phineas?"

But Phineas felt terror shoot through him when he saw that their gazes had locked. His heart pounded as he tripped over his feet and tried to scramble up.

"You... you..." Phineas mumbled over his tied tongue. He winced up his eyes as he examined the face of the person sitting before him. Soon, Phineas realized that he had backed up to the top of the bed. "...Who ARE you?"

"Ph-Phineas?" the guy repeated. He had his mouth slightly agape in a shocked expression as he stared back at him. He had turned in his chair and put his elbow on the desk. He kept his open eyes on Phineas, still with a confused-now concerned-look on his face. Then he found his reaction and quickly put his hand on his chest saying, "It's me... Ferb!"

"N-n-no! You're not!" Phineas yelled, shooting for the door. As he passed, he moaned, "I c-c-can't be back in this place!"

"Phineas!"

He heard his name called after him as he ran down the steps, and thought he heard the sound of the guy jumping out of his chair.

"Phineas, come back!"

But Phineas had already reached the front door. He had to get out of this nightmare again.

Jumping down the concrete steps, Phineas noticed that it was a dark night. He guessed it could've been about 7pm. The second thing he noticed was that it was pouring rain outside.

Phineas didn't know where he planned to go; maybe he just wanted to leave that strange and different house. He ran quickly along the wet sidewalk, leaving little shapes of his shoes on the glassy water. Phineas tried to ignore the weird feeling in his legs; he wasn't used to being this tall.

Eventually he came to a stop nowhere in particular. It was just a wooden picket fence in somebody's yard that edged the sidewalk. Stopping with his feet on the concrete, Phineas dropped down onto the wet grass, and pressed his back against the wood surface.

The sopping red hair that clung to his face gave Phineas no comfort, as he hugged his legs close to his chest. Maybe he was trying to hide himself here in the bushes, he didn't know. He only closed his eyes as the rain dripped down his face.

The future hadn't come yet. Everyone kept telling him that. He still had 21 days left in his own, ten-year-old summer. 21 days left to do the things he loved in his normal life. To do things with Ferb, before it all changed.

He couldn't skip over eight years, he still had a few more summers before this scary nightmarish future was here. At the very least, he had maybe two or three more summers before middle school. But first, he just wanted to go back home.

A light slapping sound was heard in the distance, and as it grew slightly louder, Phineas made it out to be footsteps. He thought he saw the outline of a figure running further down the sidewalk.

"Phiiiiineas!" came the hollering voice. Phineas might have slightly recognized it over the crackling sound of the raindrops on the glazed concrete. But the tall, long legs, kicking up water droplets as they ran, looked unfamiliar to him.

"Phineas!" it called again. It sounded closer now, and Phineas watched with hidden eyes as the figure came to a slowing stop in front of him. He was carrying a black umbrella that he rested tiredly on his shoulder, pressing the silver handle to his chest as he bent over with his hand on his knee, catching his breath.

He was staring with a disbelieving-yet slightly saddened-expression at the shape of Phineas sitting at the base of the fence. "...What are you doing out here?"

"G-g-go away," Phineas shivered. He cuddled himself tighter and mumbled softly and inaudibly, "...You're not him."

"Please come back inside, Phin," he pleaded as he came to stand right in front of him. He stood toweringly over Phineas' small curled position as the rain dropped in streams off of his umbrella. "You'll catch pneumonia in this weather."

"I have to wake up from this," Phineas blurted. "I can't go back in there."

"...Wake up?" came the reply. "I don't... I don't understand what you mean."

"From this dream," Phineas elaborated through the soaked hair over his eyes. "I'm in this horrible nightmare and you're not him."

"I'm not who?" he asked in return. His chest rose heavily as he took a breath out of the humid air. "...I'm Ferb..."

Shutting his eyes tightly, Phineas attempted to ignore the droning sounds around him. He pictured Ferb, his brother, sitting across from him on his bed in the morning. He pictured his smiling face, and that amused grin that he gave when a pillow was shoved on top of him.

Then Phineas blinked through the water that was dripping past his hair. He looked at the person standing before him. He looked at his longer green hair and he looked at his taller countenance.

"No you're not!" Phineas shouted back. "You're... you're somebody else. I need to wake up."

"You can't wake up," the shadowed figure beneath the umbrella pointed out. "This isn't a dream, Phineas."

"Yes it is," Phineas argued resolutely with a shaking head and a squinting wince. "I know it's a nightmare because this place isn't real."

"I suppose I can't change whatever you're set on thinking," the guy mentioned from under the dripping black covering. "...But I can assure you myself. This is real life."

"It can't be!" Phineas shot his stare up at him, yelling over the rattling sound of the rain. He stuttered through a cracking voice, "It just can't be real! Because you're not my brother!"

Phineas shut his mouth after he had spoken. He watched as the outline through the rain backed away, to stand at the edge of the sidewalk.

"You don't honestly mean that, do you?" the voice asked almost regretfully. It was hard to tell if rain had been strewn on his face, or his cheeks had been wet by something else. "...That hurts, Phin. It really does."

"I-I can't hurt somebody else's feelings when I'm in my own dream," Phineas trembled, huddling closer to his wooden wall of a shelter. "You're not here... Y-y-you're just a figment, an illusion. I want to wake up."

"I don't know about that, Phin," he replied with a bleak voice and a tipped chin. "...You've sure hurt mine."

Reaching forward and bending down, the tall shadowed figure drew out his lengthened arm towards Phineas, who flinched in fright when he felt an object placed in his hand. Then he realized that the rain had stopped, and there was now a rapid drumming sound coming from above and around his head.

Glancing upwards, Phineas saw the face above him, now slightly brighter from a nearby street lamp. His green hair now draped over his forehead and down his neck as the rain poured over his head and shoulders.

"Well, if you're set on staying out here, I can't stop you," he muttered down towards him. Then he began to turn his feet away. "...But at least take the umbrella."

As he began walking straight back down the sidewalk, he tossed one last soft-spoken comment over his shoulder. Phineas never did catch sight of his mouth moving; it might have never been him who said it at all.

"...I still don't want you to catch pneumonia."

Phineas watched the shape slowly trudge away down the street. He had his hands shoved in his pants pockets, and his head dipped low behind his raised back. His hair was flattened and dripping, as he paid no attention to the rain washing all over him.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

Phineas tried to focus his eyes to the bright air around him. It took him a second to realize that he wasn't wet anymore. The sky was a shiny blue, and white puffy clouds were scattered throughout it.

"Phineas! Phineas!" Isabella's voice called to him, as the backyard became less fuzzy and slid into view. Phineas blinked a few more times, before trying to stand up. He noticed that all of his friends were circled around him, Ferb included.

Smiling at them all, Phineas rubbed his head. He said mumbling, "S-sorry, I must've nodded off there for a second."

All of them took an uneasy glance towards each other, before Baljeet spoke up, "…Nodded off?"

"Yeah…" Phineas answered. "I thought I got enough sleep last night, but maybe I was just really tir—"

But Buford interrupted him. "Hold on, hold on. I don't know where _you're_ going with this, Dinner Bell. But you weren't sleeping."

Phineas stopped talking and listened. "…I wasn't?"

"No," Baljeet confirmed. "Actually, far from it. You were running all around the backyard, telling everybody that you were seventeen."

"I…?" Phineas said with a distant stare over everyone's shoulders. "I was?"

"Yep," Isabella chimed in. "You went to each of us and asked us how old we were. You were super interested by that."

"But… but no. For the last hour or so I was sleeping…" Phineas muttered partway to himself. "I was having a dream."

_I can assure you myself. This is real life._

"How could I… how could I have been dreaming without sleeping?"

"Yeah, you were _definitely_ not sleeping," Buford repeated. He moved his arms in demonstration. "For the last hour or so, you've been running around saying 'oohh' and 'aahh' at everything."

"If I wasn't dreaming…" Phineas almost stuttered. "Then… then… then that place is real?"

But Phineas shook his head as more thoughts entered it. "It can't be real… Here is real. This is now, and that place… isn't. How can both places be real?"

* * *

A hard crunch was heard as Perry stuck his foot through the front door of Doofenshmirtz Evil Incorporated. He left a huge hole behind him after he had landed promptly on the polished floor.

"Perry the Platypus!" Doofenshmirtz yelled in reaction, spinning around from his work. He tossed both hands at the door. "I just fixed that from last week!"

Perry kept his determined face on him.

"Oh, I bet you're wondering what I've been up to the past few days, hmm?" Doofenshmirtz guessed with a dismissive wave of his hand. He came around to circle the tarp-covered machine he had been working on. Grabbing the brown blanket, he pulled it off theatrically.

"Dun dun dun! It's my Flopinator!" Doofenshmirtz revealed. "I've fixed it!"

Perry's growl was more of a snort, as he fought not to choke on his laugh. The machine looked quite ridiculous. Though it inherently looked like the Flopinator, it seemed like it had rolled through a car dump with glue attached to it. There were all kinds of random mechanisms hanging out of it, including what looked to be the remnants of Doofenshmirtz's toast time machine.

"What! Don't laugh!" Doofenshmirtz demanded, annoyed. "I worked hard on that thing!"

Pointing to various parts, Doofenshmirtz explained. "I pulled out all the forks that landed inside it. And I tried to get the toast time machine lodged out of there, because all my toast keeps getting burnt and I really needed it… But it's just stuck in there! What did you do, Perry the Platypus? Land it in peanut butter JUST to get it stuck?"

Perry gave him an eye roll.

"But that shouldn't do much. We all know that combining Inators together does _nothing._ Remember the Very Very Bad Inator? We never even got to SEE what that did!" Doofenshmirtz came around to the other side of it. "But, as I was fixing the parts, I got an idea! Make it more…"

Doofenshmirtz linked his fingers together and wiggled them ominously, grinning. He tipped down his head in an effort to make shadows over his eyes. "…Evil! Hahahah!"

He pointed to his large computer with several monitors. "So I went online and I found an attachment for it. I ordered it from a foreign supplier, and it just arrived today!"

Holding up a black metal and hard plastic attachment, Doofenshmirtz explained, "Once I attach this to the Flopinator, it won't only flop people back and forth! It'll make them flop permanently!"

But then Doofenshmirtz tipped the object upside-down and examined all over it. "But it only works for as long as it has fuel. And I can't for the life of me figure out how to get it to start."

There was a white piece of paper on the nearby coffee table, and as Doofenshmirtz picked it up, Perry made it out to be an instruction page. The scientist squinted his eyes and turned the paper sideways, reading the fine print in the corner.

"It says… 'Runs on a constant input of Dihydrogen Monoxide.' Whatever THAT is." Then Doofenshmirtz tossed the paper back to the table, and kept looking at the device in his hand. "And it has some kind of a cone on top… like you're supposed to pour something into it? Where am I supposed to get Dihydrogen Monoxide? Like it would just fall out of the sky."

Doofenshmirtz then strolled over to his Flopinator, and began to fit the black add-on onto the side of his machine. He commented as he did it, "So I figured I would just stick it on here and see what happens."

Finishing screwing on the bolt, Doofenshmirtz stepped back. He waited for a moment. Nothing happened.

"Ah well, it was worth a shot," he conceded. Then he cocked his head. "Though with all those things sticking out of it… it looks like, art? Doesn't it, Perry the Platypus?"

Tilting his own head, Perry squinted at it. He put a paw on his bill and raised his mouth in examination. Ummm, it _sort of_ did. Some crazy garage art.

"It'll look nice on my patio, don't you agree?" Doofenshmirtz suggested. He grabbed the handles and began to roll it out to his porch. In the process, he directed at Perry, "See? It was a week well wasted."

Turning to now use the side of his shoulder to push it, Doofenshmirtz thought to himself, "Although I suppose there's nothing _evil_ about it. Some days it's an evil scheme, others it turns out to be a nice addition to the resell value of my building. Pick and choose."

Stopping the device outside, Doofenshmirtz bent down to look at it. He tapped with a finger on a little blinking light. "Though it's still pulsing for some reason. I never did find out why it was doing that."

He stepped backwards and looked at it, hands placed on his hips. He stared it all up and down. "Eh. I'll leave it plugged in. Flashing lights give the piece aesthetic significance!"

Turning to Perry, who was simply watching from a distance, Doofenshmirtz pointed out, "Well, Perry the Platypus. Looks like there's nothing evil for you to thwart today. Ta ta!"

Slowly shuffling his feet, Perry began to turn towards the door. Doofenshmirtz was right; that mass of metal didn't seem to be doing anything wrong, if it was just going to sit there and be an art decoration. But as he took a last glance over his shoulder, Perry had a feeling that this wasn't over yet.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

Phineas didn't like the bright white light that had overtaken his eyes. He could hardly tell anything that was happening until he figured out where his hands were.

He shook his head. He shut his eyes repeatedly and squinted them. Finally, Phineas could start to see the things in front of him. First, he saw a pane of glass before him, and he could see a sidewalk through it. Then, he noticed a strap that he felt diagonally along his chest.

Next, he felt a circular, bar-like object between both of his hands, and he saw it gripped out in front of him. He felt a flat rectangular shape pressed on his foot through the sole his right shoe. The last thing to come to fruition in Phineas' consciousness was the concrete road in front of him. And its movement. Its fast movement. Coming right towards him and disappearing beneath him quickly.

"O-o-oh my gosh!" Phineas spat out. He shrieked to no one in particular, aimed at whoever might be sitting near him, "Am I supposed to be DRIVING THIS CAR?"

His fingers tightened in a death grip over the steering wheel, as he tensed so much that his knuckles turned white. He tried to keep the wheel still, but he was trembling all over. Spinning his head around frightfully, Phineas searched everywhere for any kind of help.

The only other person in the car, sitting in the passenger's seat, was that one teenager who claimed to be Ferb. He was leaning upright in the seat, hand placed on the dashboard, and seatbelt strapped tautly around his shoulder. He was staring directly at Phineas, and Phineas locked terrified eyes back to him.

"Yes! Yes, you are!" the teenager explained in a panic. "Phineas, are you okay?"

"No!" Phineas shouted back. He moved his widened eyes back to the quickly approaching road and pleaded, "I can't drive a car!"

Lifting a straight finger, the teenager pointed out to the road ahead of them. "Phin, you're going too fast!"

"N-n-n-no I'm not…!" Phineas mumbled. But he had shut his eyes tightly and turned away.

"Don't close you're eyes!" Phineas heard the shout beside him. But he couldn't dare lift an eyelid and see that concrete moving so fast.

Hearing a shuffling sound of movement next to him, Phineas then heard a voice say something he never thought he would hear in a situation like this. "Take your hands off the steering wheel."

"N-n-n-no!" Phineas managed to cry. Though his elbows were shaking wildly, his fingers stayed clutched resolutely on the wheel. "I-I-I-I'm not doing that!"

"I have the steering," the almost-familiar voice assured him. "You can let go."

"I c-c-can't…" Phineas begged. "W-w-we'll crash…"

"I'm holding onto the wheel, Phin. Right next to you."

Through the blackness of his lids, Phineas heard the reassuring tone. "You can trust me."

"Ok-ok-okay," Phineas forced himself to whisper. He uncurled his fingers, still molded to the shape of the wheel, and drew them back towards his chest. Then he flickered open his eyes, and let the scene come back.

Phineas saw green hair in his face, and realized that he could feel the teenager's shoulders resting his elbow. He was leaning far over from his place in the passenger's seat so that he could ensure that he had control over the car.

He used one hand to point downwards at the floor, without taking his eyes off the road. "Alright, Phineas. Move your foot off the gas."

"M-m-my foot's not on the gas!" Phineas argued, screwing up his face in a horrified frown. He had returned to looking at the road in front of him, holding both hands clutched close to his chest.

"Yes, it is," the teenager leaning on top of him said. "I see it right there. Phineas, calm down for a second. We're not going to crash."

Phineas tried to take some deep breaths, and attempted to ignore the numbness in his feet. Then he realized that he still felt the rectangular shape of the pedal beneath his shoe. He leapt his foot back in surprise, and immediately felt the car begin to slow down.

"Okay. Now move it over to the brake," the strangely composed and comforting voice told him.

Taking his stiff and straightened leg, Phineas lifted the bottom of his shoe and felt for the brake pedal.

"Gently!" the person in front of him called out when he saw Phineas' movements. "Don't slam on it, please. Squeeze it slowly."

With clenched teeth, Phineas followed his orders obediently and to the tee, lowering his foot down onto the pedal beneath him.

"Okay. When we slow to about fifteen miles per hour, I'm going to turn us onto one of these side streets. Understand?"

"Mmmm," Phineas hummed without question as he gave a great nod.

"We're coming up to one now. Reach over and put on your right turn signal," he said with a point. Phineas just stared at him.

"My wha… Where?" Phineas returned, gaping.

"Nevermind. Forget about the blinker. I'm turning us now."

He pulled on the side of the wheel as if he was reeling in a rope. Phineas kept squeezing on the brake, even though he was told to let it go slightly. He was pressed sideways into the inside of the door, feeling squished as his passenger was pushed further on top of him.

After the curving turn left them facing the small side street, Phineas' efforts with the brake caused them to stop abruptly in the middle of the road.

"Now. Let go of the brake and _lightly_ press the gas," came the clear suggestion. "And I'll turn us into one of these parking lots."

"No no no no no," Phineas tossed his head back and forth. He had closed his eyes again. "We've stopped moving. We've stopped moving."

Straightening up a bit and looking left and right, the teenager sighed and concluded, "Well, we're off the main road. I suppose we can just put it in park right here."

Phineas had opened his eyes again, and was looking all around him, but made no motion of reaching for the gear shifter. So the guy beside him paused for a moment, before reaching his own arm over and pushing the stick onto the 'P.'

With his hand still on the shifter, he stretched with his other arm to turn and pull the key out of the ignition. He held the ring and other keys safely between his fingers as he leaned back and returned to his seat.

"Phin… you can…" he started through breaths. "It's safe to take your foot off the brake now."

But Phineas was frozen as he shivered in his seat and stared at the now-stationary road before him.

"Phin," it came again, this time with a point. "Your foot."

"Oh…! Oh, yeah," Phineas realized, moving his leg and finally letting it relax slightly under the seat. He tried to untense and let his shoulders move down.

Then followed a few minutes of silence. Both of them just sat in their seats, chests moving up and down slowly. The only sound in the quiet car was their loud and heavy breaths. A couple of times they tossed thankful glances to each other.

As their breathing lessened, Phineas slowly closed his eyes shut and open again in a gradual blink. Now the car was entirely silent.

But then, broken through the still air, was a sound. It took Phineas a moment to process exactly what it was, because it seemed so out-of-place. Then he realized it: _laughing._ The guy sitting beside Phineas in the passenger's side had just burst out into laughter.

"Wha…? Why are you laughing?" Phineas asked in response after he had turned to face him. Phineas noticed that he had a huge grin on his face and a little drip of a tear coming out of the corner of his eye. He placed his hand back on the dashboard as he bent over to contain himself.

"I don't—I don't know!" he fought to breathe. The seatbelt was still stretched over his shoulder as he couldn't help but lean towards the dashboard. "I just am! That was… kind of hilarious."

"No it wasn't! Stop laughing!" Phineas defended, watching as he tried to sit back up. "That was absolutely terrifying!"

"Yes. Yes, it _was_ absolutely terrifying," he agreed as he set his head back on the headrest. He looked back over to Phineas and said through a smile, "But after it's all said and done, I can't help but laugh about it."

Then Phineas jumped and his heart started to pound when he caught sight of that guy's face. He felt a rush of a combination of fear and comfort. It was that smile, Phineas could pick it out of a group of ten thousand. That teenager had Ferb's smile.

He wasn't Ferb, but there was no mistaking that he sure did have his smile. He had his hair, and he had his voice. He might've even had his nose. But he… he couldn't be Ferb.

"Are you okay, anyway Phineas?" the sound of his voice interrupted Phineas' thoughts. He seemed to have slowly dropped his grin for a look of slight concern. "You just… panicked and forgot how to drive a car…?"

"Umm, yeah sorta…" Phineas answered shiftily. "I was… I was standing on the sidewalk eating a pretzel. And then I was driving a car."

"…You were standing on the sidewalk eating a pretzel?" the guy returned with a small sarcastic chuckle.

"Yeah," Phineas answered truthfully. Then he put his hands on his knees and dipped his head down shamefully. "I'm sorry I can't drive a car. I guess we're stuck out here, I don't know how we're going to go anywhere."

"…It's no problem," came the reply. Phineas looked to his right and saw his passenger unbuckling his seatbelt. "…It's strange, but not a problem. Come around the side and hop over here. I'll drive us back."

But he stopped when he noticed Phineas making no movements. He was just staring at him in disbelief. Then Phineas straightened a finger and pointed at him.

"YOU can drive a car?" Phineas exclaimed. He weaved his hands in a circle as he tried to process it. "Ferb can do a lot of things, but he can't drive a car."

"Yes, Ferb can drive a car," the other guy replied carefully. "Ferb has had his license for over a year and a half now. And Phineas has had his for almost a year. Are you sure you're okay?"

Then he leaned back into his seat once more and looked towards Phineas with concern. After a second, he remarked a little comically, "And is there any particular reason we're talking in third person?"

"Umm, no," Phineas willed himself to say. He felt strange that this teenager was talking with him so casually. He was almost a stranger to Phineas, shouldn't Phineas be almost a stranger to him?

Phineas reached down with shaky hands and managed to undo his seatbelt, before opening the door and coming around. The other guy did the same, arriving and slipping into the driver's seat.

When Phineas found himself safely in the passenger's side, and far away from the wheel, he felt a little bit more comfortable. He glanced over, to see the guy beside him adjusting the seat to fit his long legs. When he had situated himself, he started to fix the mirrors.

With analyzing eyes, Phineas watched each one of that guy's movements. He watched the way he moved his hands to arrange the rear-view, and how he looked over his shoulder to grab for the seatbelt. Each little thing he did felt eerily familiar in a strange way.

"...F-?" Phineas whispered under his breath. "...Ferb...?"

Upon hearing the word, the person before him stopped what he was doing, and looked attentively. "Yes, Phin?"

"N-nothing," Phineas answered, huddling under his seatbelt. "...I just wanted to see what you would do if I said the name."

"Okay..." was the confused answer as he put the key back into the ignition. "Got to remember to check that every once and a while, I suppose…"

Then he turned to put the car in gear, and Phineas kept watching him intently. He didn't take his inquisitive eyes away for the entire drive home.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

The car pulled up to the garage of the Flynn-Fletcher household, or at least the version of the house that was in this place. Phineas still felt uneasy as he ran past the livingroom and hallways to see them rearranged. But he headed up to his room without a stop after he had entered through the front door.

The guy who could've been Ferb followed behind him, staring with a puzzled and protective gaze. Phineas' feet disappeared at the top of the steps.

Though he didn't know what time it was-the sun was still shining-Phineas leapt into his bed and pulled up the sheets. He didn't know what else to do other than that.

That guy downstairs was too similar to Ferb to be someone else. But he was too different to be the ten-year-old Ferb that Phineas knew. And that scared him. For now, the sanctuary of his fluffy covers was the only thing that he tried to think about.

But in the silence of the room, all Phineas had to keep him company were his own thoughts. This place didn't _feel_ like a dream, but then again, dreams never do. Yet, if it truly wasn't a dream, Phineas had already seen his mom in this world. Perhaps his dad was off at work. Candace's room hadn't changed much, and she could've been at school.

If all that were true, then the only person missing from this reality was Ferb. So either that strange and different guy downstairs _was_ Ferb, or Ferb wasn't here.

Scrunching himself closer under his tent, Phineas snuggled his knees and hid his eyes. Where was his brother? What had this weird world done with him?

Then Phineas heard a sound of movement and thought he felt the presence of someone nearby. He peeked his eyes out from under the covers and looked around.

The almost-Ferb teenager was standing in the bedroom doorway. He had his shoulder leaning against the moulding, his arms half-crossed, and one leg bent as he rested his weight on the doorpost. He had a distressed expression on his face as he looked into the room.

"I really don't think you're okay, Phineas," he started cautiously. "You've been acting awful strange lately and you haven't told me anything about it."

Phineas slid up a little closer to his pillow, still keeping his bedsheet clutched in his hands.

The guy in the door lifted his shoulder off of the post and walked his way over to Phineas' bedside. He bent down until he was almost kneeling, and looked Phineas in the eye. "Please tell me what's bothering you."

Staying silent for a moment, Phineas covered his mouth with the blanket. He just stared back at the person before him, watching the expression on his face. He saw nothing but genuine concern in those eyes. Could they really be the eyes he knew?

"Are you…" Phineas started, gently lifting the fabric off his mouth. He gulped. "Are you real?"

"Real?" he echoed. "Of course I'm real… What do you mean by saying that?"

"I mean…" Phineas replied, pulling a hand gradually out into the open air. He slowly aimed his movement towards the guy's elbow that was resting on the side of the bed. Phineas' fingers graced the top of his forearm lightly, and the green-haired teenager moved his head curiously to look down at it. After pulling his fingers back, Phineas whispered, "You're an actual person… Who exists and lives and is real."

"Yes… yes of course I am," the one beside the bed gathered himself to reply.

Phineas drew his hand back to grabbing his blanket. He didn't move his gaze away from looking into the eyes of the person in front of him. He finally asked quietly, "Please tell me who you are."

"Who I…?" the older teen started. His eyes squinted as if he had been hurt, and his next words came out wet-sounding and cracking. "You're scaring me now, Phineas. You… you know who I am."

"I—I think I might," Phineas answered. But he still continued his locked stare. "But I can't even start to believe it until I hear someone specifically tell it to me. So please, tell me your name."

"My—my name is Ferb…" he started with a sigh, leaning back to straighten up a bit. "…My name is Ferb Fletcher."

He couldn't say anything more as he waited anxiously for Phineas' response. Phineas snuck his arms closer to himself as he examined him all up and down. He looked at his face closely, at his large square nose, and at the scruffy green hair that went down behind his ears. Phineas breathed and spoke up.

"I can… just barely recognize you," he said softly.

"You can ju…?" the Ferb-teenager answered. He frowned sadly as he stared back at him. "Phineas… don't you remember me?"

"… I remember Ferb," Phineas admitted, shuffling in the bed to reposition himself in thought. He broke gazes and looked away, saying, "He's smart, and cool, and quiet, and we always build things together. But you…"

Stopping, Phineas looked back to him. Now he was sitting on the floor as he looked back without words, only wanting to listen. Phineas tried to find what he was trying to say.

"You… remind me of him," Phineas mentioned. "A lot, actually. You definitely have his hair, and now that I look closely, you look like him too. And you laugh like he does. You laugh exactly like he does. But you're… you're _eighteen years old."_

"No, I'm not. I'm seventeen," the guy who was almost Ferb explained. Then he started to gesture subtly. "I'm seventeen just like I was last week. And I was sixteen a year ago. Phineas… do you remember last year?"

"Yeah, yeah I remember last year," Phineas mumbled. He was still thinking hard as he scratched his head. "But I remember Ferb being nine years old last year. The last I remember is yesterday, when we were both ten."

The tall and older-looking teenager lowered his shoulders and looked down at the floor. Then he tipped ever-so-slightly glossy eyes back up to Phineas. "You've forgotten everything that's happened in the last seven years?"

"I don't think I've _forgotten_ it," Phineas tried to make out. He looked down at his own abnormally-long arms that he had placed out in front of him. "…It's like I was ten, and then the world suddenly grew up around me."

Then Phineas looked upwards, and all around the room. "But if this place isn't just a dream I'm having… If it's really real life…"

Phineas tried to think it through. He looked back down to the person who looked so similar-yet-different to Ferb. He whispered, "…Is this the future?"

Then Phineas whimpered and shrunk down again. "I d-don't like the future... The future is different, and s-scary."

The guy who could've been Ferb looked at himself, then down to the floor, and pointed at it. "...I'm pretty sure… this is the present."

Then he softly pointed to himself and glanced back to Phineas. "...At least for me it is. ...It's 2015 and has been for eight months now."

"T-t-twenty fifteen?" Phineas gulped frightfully.

The other guy nodded. "And it was 2014 bef-"

But then Phineas found himself trying to blink; he had spotted a white light beginning to form in the room. He shook his head greatly and felt his heart pounding. He was pretty positive he knew what was happening, as he attempted to wait through the strange light as it overtook him, and then gradually dissipated.

Phineas was in the livingroom, and was sitting on the couch. But that older teenage guy wasn't there anymore. Instead, Phineas looked to his right beside him, to see the welcoming and familiar face of the ten-year-old Ferb.

"Ferb!" Phineas shouted as he pointed at him. Then he leapt up and wrapped his arms around him in a big hug. "I missed you!"

When Phineas drew back, he saw only a confused face on Ferb. Still caught up in thoughts, Phineas ignored Ferb's reaction and asked, "What year is it?"

Ferb cocked his head and looked even more perplexed. But, when Phineas just stared back to him with anticipation, he answered, "...It's 2008."

"Okay... okay good, I'm back home," Phineas spoke through several breaths. "I was... I was in, I guess it was the future."

He looked back at Ferb and saw his expression. He grinned a little at him. "Yeah... again. I don't know what keeps on flipping me back and forth. But maybe this time I'll stay here at home."

Ferb just shrugged.

"Yeah, I guess there's really no way of telling, is there," Phineas sighed.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

The TV was flickering, playing the local news channel with the weather.

_Looks like the month-long streak of blue skies is finally broken, Folks. A thunderstorm is rolling in from the south, and several parts of Danville might already be getting some downpour._

A cracking sound made Phineas jump. A bright blue fork had appeared in the sky near the livingroom window, and Phineas found himself leaning onto Ferb as he stared outside. Heavy water was beating against the glass in streaks.

"Wow, the weatherman is g-good," Phineas remarked frightfully as he kept scanning the sky. He blinked sadly as he watched the abundance of wet drops landing in lines on the windowpane.

"I-I don't like the rain," Phineas mentioned to Ferb, after he realized that he was still leaning on top of him. Ferb looked down at him curiously.

Sitting up again, Phineas revealed, "It... reminds me of something that happened. We're... were still brothers, right?"

Ferb just stared back at him with an eyebrow up. Now he looked really confused. Nevertheless, he assured, "Of course we are."

"Good. Because, well... in the future..." Phineas started hesitantly. "I told that guy there that he wasn't my brother. And... I think I might have hurt him by it."

Then Phineas stuck his knees together as he let his feet hang off the couch. He moved his eyes down at them and kept talking, but it came out stuttering, "But I-I'm starting to think... that maybe, possibly, perhaps... he might be you."

He finished his sentence by glancing up towards his brother. They just looked at each other for a moment.

"He probably is," Ferb pointed out. "I don't know why you're so adamant on saying he's not."

"Yeah... I guess, I guess it's sort of been obvious all along," Phineas regretfully conceded. He breathed loudly and thought about it.

"But, I secretly didn't want him to be you," Phineas spoke quietly. "...Because he's different. And I didn't want you to be different."

Ferb looked back at Phineas as he waited for him to keep going. After a delay, Phineas thought out, "Well, he's reeeaaallly OLD now. He's almost an adult...! I mean, that's old enough to be _Candace's_ big brother. He can't possibly be my brother anymore because he's old enough to be my _uncle."_

Watching Phineas as he explained it, Ferb just waited for him to finish. Then he commented, "…I'm sure I'm not that bad."

"But he talks a whole lot more than you do," Phineas added fretfully. When Ferb gave him a dismissive nod, Phineas slowly tossed his head and debated, "…Yeah, I guess it could have been a gradual thing, I mean a lot can happen in seven years."

Phineas whimpered; he hadn't yet settled his feelings. "That's why I'm scared, though. A LOT can happen in seven years. …What else could've happened?"

A second low roll of thunder echoed across the sky as the windowpane was pelted with another wave of rain. Phineas jumped up to squish himself further into the couch. He whispered, "I don't want you to have changed so much that I lose you, Ferb."

Ferb scooted up to sit right next to Phineas. After a contemplating pause, he said directly, "I can't know what the future will do to me. But if _I_ have any say in it, I'll always want to be your brother."

Phineas smiled at him. Then he looked distantly off into the corner. He mumbled, "Maybe if I jump or leap or travel there somehow again, you can come with me this time. I'd feel a lot better facing it if you were there to face it with me."

Ferb didn't answer, as they both turned to watch the soaked glass behind them. Water rolled down in streaks, making the backyard outside blurry and wet. The thunderstorm was coming, quickly it seemed. Dark puffy clouds were hovering over the entire Tri-State Area.

Even over a certain tall purple building. And sitting out on its patio was a scientist's invention, unknown to anyone, that was catching the rain in its little black cup, and slowly filling to overload with water over the edge.

* * *

Phineas found the bright white light to be annoying, but he had seen it enough times now to know what it meant. As he waited for his sight to come back, Phineas anticipated what he would see before him.

It was actually quite startling. Though he was expecting to see his house again, Phineas was standing in the middle of a crowded shopping mall. People pushed around him as Phineas looked all up and down the hall before him.

But this place… this place was nowhere Phineas knew. The Googolplex Mall was the only mall in town, and this place wasn't the Googolplex Mall. The shops were unfamiliar to him, and none of the kiosks or employees or even the people looked like regular Danville citizens. Was this place even in Danville?

Phineas started to walk, then run, down the hall. He was looking for anything to help him find a way out, or an answer, or a location or anything at all. He ran past stores he had never even heard of, he ran past tables and chairs and open areas that Phineas never recognized. Where had he leapt this time?

Beginning to breathe hard—both from his running and his nerves—Phineas looked left and right and all around. He didn't even know what he would do if he found an exit. First this 'whatever' was leaping him into the future, now it had leapt him somewhere unfamiliar and terrifyingly big.

As he tried to catch his breath, Phineas' beating heart wouldn't let him. It seemed as though the onslaught of unrecognizable sights were closing in around him. Not a single corner of anywhere looked the tiniest bit familiar.

Spinning back and forth, Phineas froze where he stood as he started to cower downwards. He felt smothered by weird strangeness around him.

But then he spotted something. He bounced back to a standing position as he tried to get a good sight of it. There, standing on the other side of the mall hallway and looking back and forth confusedly, was a tall, teenage, green-haired figure.

"FERB!" Phineas shouted as he stretched out a finger to point at him. He leapt off his feet as his sneakers squeaked, and made a direct beeline straight towards him. As soon as he reached the other side, Phineas collided with him and wrapped his arms around his waist.

But then Phineas jumped backwards. He linked his fingers together low in front of his chest and looked up at the older guy before him. Phineas felt embarrassed as his cheeks turned red. He had just realized that it was the first time he had used his brother's name to address this teenager.

"I—I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hug you," Phineas muttered as he shuffled his feet while looking at them. "It's just that I… well, I was out there in the mall and everything was so weird and scary…"

Gesturing with a haphazard hand out at the general direction behind him, Phineas still didn't make eye contact as he tried to explain himself. "And, um, I… Well, when I saw anything at all that was the slightest bit familiar, even if it was you… I just couldn't stop myself. And I don't know what came over m—"

"Hold, hold, hold on," the teenage Ferb stuttered the interruption. He had been trying to interrupt Phineas through each one of his ill-prepared sentences. When he had raised his hand haltingly, Phineas finally shut his mouth and glanced upwards at him.

"…Since when do you _apologize_ for hugging me?"

"Oh, um, since never I guess…" Phineas returned to shuffling his feet, but now his hands were linked behind his back instead. "Well, it's just that you're so much _older_ than me… It's like it's disrespectful or rude or off limits, like I'm not allowed to hug you."

"…Older?" the Ferb-guy asked curiously. "Phin, I'm only four mont—"

But then he stopped himself as he looked down at Phineas. He took a moment, before inferring, "Or… are you feeling funny again, like you were last night?"

Phineas didn't answer as he still refrained from making eye contact. He could feel the teenage Ferb looking over him.

"You know you really freaked me out last night, Phineas," he mentioned cautiously. "You were talking about having amnesia, and forgetting the last seven years… Then you went on to say some really _strange_ things that frankly made no sense at all. And the whole thing just has me really worried about you."

"Not _forgetting_ it," Phineas started, finally able to look back up at him. There, he could see by his face that he was truly interested and bothered by it. Phineas continued, "I can't forget seven years if I never lived through them."

Then Phineas stepped forward just enough so that he could say softly, "…I think I'm time traveling."

"…Time traveling?" the teenage Ferb repeated as he stared down back at him.

Phineas nodded and pointed a finger to himself. "Yeah, I'm ten years old right now, and I'm from the year 2008."

"Really…?" came the response. The teenager before him reached up and scratched the back of his head. "You sure do look seventeen to me."

"Don't you believe me?" Phineas pleaded. "I thought of all people, you would be the one who believes me."

"Oh yeah, sure I believe you. I'd believe anything that comes out of your mouth, Phineas, no matter how crazy it sounds," he replied. Then he looked thoughtfully to the corner. "That _would_ explain some. Like why you called the mall weird and scary and ran off to who knows where. Why DID you do that?"

"Well, it was really weird and scary out there," Phineas answered as he looked over his shoulder. "…Why does it look so different?"

"That's right. This is the new mall, it opened three years ago on February 1st. If you're from 2008, you wouldn't know it yet."

Then he held up a hangar and coat-shaped plastic bag that he had, apparently, been carrying the entire time. He gestured to it. "Mom sent us down here to pick up her laundry from the dry cleaning store on the first floor. We stopped by on our way back from school, and _were_ heading out, when I turned around to see that you had disappeared from right behind me."

He set his package once more down by his side, still looking at Phineas. "I'm just glad you found me. I was looking all over for you."

"You were?"

"Yeah. You just went running off and I had no idea where you went," he explained again. Then he pointed in the general direction of an escalator. "Stick with me, I know the way out. And it's getting close to 4 o'clock, so Mom'll have supper ready soon."


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

Of course Phineas opted not to be the one to drive them back home. Instead, he watched in a little bit of uncomfortable awe, as the teenage Ferb skillfully handled the car. When he pulled it into the driveway, the two of them hopped out.

Dinner was strange. It wasn't strange because it was abnormal, in fact, it was because it was _too_ normal. Phineas tried to eat his food as he watched his mom and dad finish theirs. Candace wasn't there, but since Phineas had almost begun to accept that this was really the future, Candace would've been twenty-two and perhaps already left.

But Phineas couldn't take his eyes off of the teenage Ferb in front of him. He was cutting his steak and eating forkfuls like it was just any normal day. But if this was a normal day for Phineas, everyone would be staring at Ferb and wondering _why_ he was a teenager. It wasn't normal for a teenage Ferb to be casually finishing steak at the dinner table.

Phineas ended up not eating a lot of his food, when the teenage Ferb excused them both to go upstairs. Phineas felt compelled to follow him for some reason.

The rest of the night went abnormally normal. But Phineas preferred to just sit in his bed and felt out-of-place. He was having a time travel crisis right here! Why was the world continuing as if it was just any other day?

Phineas couldn't think of anything to do with the evening other than sit and watch the teenage Ferb do various things. A couple of times, as he walked past Phineas' bed, he asked Phineas if he was okay. Phineas was _sort of_ okay.

As he examined each one of that teenager's actions, Phineas couldn't decide if he felt a welcoming, familiar presence about him, or a strange and unfamiliar one. Actually, Phineas felt both, and that confused him. That guy in front of him was both Ferb, and a stranger at the same time.

Eventually it came the hour to shut lights off and hop into bed. Course, Phineas was already in bed, and he didn't want to get out of it only to change into pajamas. He just decided to crawl further under and try to fall asleep right where he was.

The teenage Ferb had gone into the bathroom to get changed and brush his teeth. When he returned, he went straight to his own bed and crashed down onto it. He pressed his face into the pillow and pulled the covers on top of himself.

"G'night, Phin," he breathed, muffled from his squished cheek.

"…Good night," Phineas replied, delayed and softly. Then, the light was clicked off and the room became dark.

But Phineas hadn't closed his eyes yet. Only after the bustling of the day had quieted did Phineas come to realize that he actually wasn't tired. His eyes wouldn't even close if he tried to make them.

So he lay in his bed as the minutes and almost hours passed by. The room was so silent. And dark. Phineas felt an onset of loneliness. He wished his brother were there with him, his ten-year-old brother who had gotten left at home.

They always went on adventures together, the two of them. Now, Phineas was being dragged through time-travel and Ferb wasn't even there by his side. Ferb was back at home in 2008, probably sitting in his own bed, while Phineas was left here alone in the future.

Lots of thoughts were coming out of Phineas' head. He had a hard time sitting still in his bed as his mind turned. Where was his brother right now? He really needed somebody to talk to.

Instinctively, Phineas glanced to his left to search for him by habit. But when his eyes rested on the figure sleeping in his bed, Phineas remembered that this teenager was the only other person in the room.

Though Phineas wanted to turn away and go back to staring at the ceiling, he found that he couldn't. His eyes were fixed on staring at that guy in the other bed. ...Phineas needed somebody to talk to. Sure, his own ten-year-old brother wasn't here, but would the seventeen-year-old one mind terribly to be woken up?

Before Phineas let his brain talk himself out of it, he had pushed his feet out of the covers and set them on the floor. He kept a cautious gaze on the sound-asleep figure, as he lightly moved on his toes to sneak towards his bed.

Reaching out a hand, Phineas placed it hesitantly on his shoulder, but paused for a moment when his hand touched it. One would think that a shoulder would just feel like a shoulder, but his felt... familiar. Welcomingly familiar.

Taking a breath, Phineas began to shake it lightly.

"Ferb..." he whispered. "Hey, Ferb, wake up."

With a little mumble, he blinked his eyes open and stared up at Phineas. After a yawn, he turned to lie on his back and mentioned, "Something on your mind?"

Phineas stood up straighter and looked at him. "Umm, yeah. How did you know?"

"You only ever wake me up in the middle of the night when something is bothering you," the sleepy teenager responded, moving his pillow so that he could sit up on it.

"Oh... Oh yeah, I guess I do," Phineas spoke quietly, a little surprised. He kept looking at him, when the teenager gave Phineas a little grin, and patted the side of the bed.

"I'm listening," he offered softly.

"Well," Phineas started, taking the spot on the edge of Ferb's bed. He sighed greatly and revealed, "I miss Ferb."

With a confused gesture to himself, the teenager in the bed asked, "You miss me? But I'm right here."

"No, no," Phineas replied sadly. "...I miss the other Ferb, the ten-year-old one."

But when Phineas looked up, he saw the teenage Ferb still looking at him comfortingly. He pointed at himself again, repeating, "But I'm right here."

"You don't understand," Phineas moped back at him. "I miss the ten-year-old Ferb. You're the _seventeen_-year-old one."

Phineas exhaled in a shaky whimper. A tear almost formed in the corner of his eye. "I c-can't... I can't talk to you like I can talk to him. I miss the Ferb who's my same age. I miss the Ferb that I grew up with."

"Who do you think I am?" the teenage Ferb proposed softly.

"You?" Phineas addressed. "Well at first I thought you were a scary terrifying stranger."

"But you don't think that anymore?"

"No..." Phineas started again. "Now I think that you're grown-up Ferb, who's seventeen and lives here in the future."

The Ferb who sat in the bed leaned upwards a bit. Phineas watched him as he lifted off the covers and moved his long legs over the side. They were too long to merely dangle off, and he ended up having to rest his heels on the hardwood floor with his knees bent, as he sat on the mattress.

Then he scooted close to Phineas and sat right beside him. When he was positioned, he put his hands over his lap and tipped his eyes up sideways to show them to Phineas. He spoke quietly yet clearly, "That's not who I am."

Staring back at him, Phineas tilted his eyebrows in surprise. "It's not? Then who are you?"

"Sure, all those things _describe_ me," he answered with a shrug. "But those things aren't who I _am."_

"Then who _are_ you?" Phineas repeated, putting the same importance on the word that he had seen the teenage Ferb use.

"Who am I?" he started gently. "Well, I'm a lot of things."

He placed his elbows on his knees as he bent forward, turning to look back at Phineas. Then he straightened a finger to point at Phineas' head.

"That guy in your memories? The ten-year-old boy who you're missing right now..." He moved his long fingers to stretch them out and set his fingertips on the top of his chest. "...I'm sitting right here next to you, and I've been here this whole time."

"B-but... I'm the only one who's time traveling..." Phineas attempted to mumble. He reached out a limp finger to try to poke him in the arm. "If you're ten-year-old Ferb, then—then… how'd you get here?"

"You're right, Phineas..." came the gentle reply as he sighed and looked away. "I'm not ten years old anymore, and I didn't get to the year 2015 by time travel. I got here by living through seven years of my life."

At this, Phineas put on a little frown and leaned backwards a bit. The teenage Ferb followed the lean with a hesitant movement of his own, stopping himself after only an inch.

"Yes… yes, Phin. I am really seventeen years old," he tried to explain softly. "But please don't think of me as just some random teenager who looks like Ferb and lives in your house…"

Then he placed his hand back on his chest, this time stretching all his fingers out to press on it with his palm. Then he gazed back up at Phineas with vaguely glossy eyes. "It's me, Phin. It's _really_ me. I'm your brother."

"B-but I… I can't say that you're my brother…" Phineas whispered quietly back to him. "…Because that would be like saying the ten-year-old one back in 2008 isn't. I only have one same-age brother… I can'tve secretly had another one who's also my BIG brother. You're more like… somebody _else's_ brother."

"Phineas…" he started, looking once more to the floor, perhaps seeking words. "It doesn't work if you think of me as two separate people. If you do that, then one of them seems like a stranger. But I'm not a stranger to you."

Phineas kept sitting on the bed and didn't know whether to lean back away from him or forward to investigate him. So he just stayed still and kept watching.

The Ferb that was sitting in front of him saw Phineas' speechlessness, and gave a little sigh. He spoke softly, "You've mentioned it before. There's only one Ferb. But… I'll let you in on a little secret."

When he paused, Phineas opened his mouth in anticipation. "A secret? What is it?"

The teenage Ferb place his hand over his mouth, and gave Phineas a warm grin behind it. He scooted forward enough that he could whisper in Phineas' ear, "Both Ferb's are the same person."

He leaned back and sat straight again as he continued, "But you're _time traveling,_ Phineas. There's only _one_ Ferb, but I'm in two places at once. I exist as your brother when I was ten in 2008. And I exist, here, as your brother when I'm seventeen."

Staring back, Phineas let his open jaw slack a bit. The spoken words had entered his mind and flowed through it, and as Phineas looked at the person sitting next to him, he found that he couldn't mouth anything.

Then Phineas watched as the person beside him took a shaky breath, and kept staring at his feet with his hands clasped out in front of him. "…You don't know how hurt it makes me feel… to know that you won't call me your brother anymore."

He closed his eyes and spoke with wet words, "You asked me a couple of minutes ago who I am. Well… I am the guy who sits across from you in the morning. I am the guy who shares syrup with you when we eat Mom's pancakes, the guy who sits beside you on long car rides to Grandma and Grandpa Flynn's cabin."

Now he was attempting to grin a tender grin up at Phineas, who couldn't help but grow his own wide and bright smile, as he kept staring at him and listened.

"I'm the same person who sits under my welding mask on the wall of some project. I'm the same person who gets clobbered by a pillow Every. Single. Morning. I am your best friend. I am your brother. I _am_ Ferb. The guy whose shoulder you fell asleep on while sitting on the couch, and you were too tired to stay awake anymore."

Hunching under his back, the person who Phineas was staring at went to tipping his nose down to his feet. He mumbled silently and under his breath, "So please look at me, and tell me that you don't see who's really sitting here beside you."

Then he tipped his watery eyes upwards again, to look at Phineas. Phineas felt a jump when he saw them gazing at him, he didn't know what to think about anything anymore.

"All I want is for you to be able to fall asleep on my shoulder again," he mumbled as a drop landed from his nose onto the hardwood floor. His words were almost silent, the only sound in the dark room, as he spoke, "So if you can honestly look at me, and think that I'm not the same person… That I'm not that ten-year-old you know. Just go ahead and tell me."

Phineas felt a pang of regret when those eyes turned away from him, and the figure before him went back to raising his shoulders around his neck, slumped down and staring at his feet. Phineas almost opened his mouth, when he heard one last, muffled, wet, soft-spoken sentence.

"Just go ahead and tell me, and I'll know it to be true."

"F-F-Ferb?" Phineas started, sorting through his churning thoughts to pick out a few words and set them on his tongue. "…I've been missing you all this time…! I've lain awake in bed only _wishing_ that you were here. I've wanted you here by my side ever since I jumped into this future… We always go on adventures together, the two of us. But… there's only one you… and you're right here with me!"

Then Phineas paused for only a moment, as he watched those eyes turn back up to look at him. They were widened a bit as Phineas' words still hung in the air. After a couple of seconds, Phineas saw Ferb's smiling face looking back at him.

"…And I've been here all along," came the cracking voice as he showed his teeth, beaming. "I'm on this adventure with you, Phineas. Though I didn't time travel with you here, and I may look a little older, we're here together as always, Phin."

Phineas felt a huge grin growing at the corners of his own mouth as he looked back at Ferb. Suddenly he wasn't lonely anymore. How could he be lonely? His _brother_ was sitting right next to him!

Laughing softly, Phineas said a bit louder, "You still have your smile, Ferb! You really still have your smile."

But as Phineas looked back at that now-obviously-familiar face, his heart started to pound out of both excitement and sheer wonder. He couldn't stop himself from leaping over and wrapping both his arms around Ferb's neck, squeezing him tight. "I'm sorry, Ferb…! I'm sorry for saying you're not my brother and I'm sorry for hurting your feelings and I'm sorry for being afraid of you and I'm sorry for calling you a stranger…"

"Ph—!" Ferb tried to breathe from his place beneath the two constricting arms. "Ph-Phin…eas…"

Phineas let go in reaction and asked loudly and directly, "Am I allowed to hug you?"

"Yes, yes, of course you are," Ferb answered as he tried to breathe and rubbed his neck. "But you were choking me."

"Oh," Phineas said bashfully as his face grew red. "…I'm sorry."

"It's okay, I accept your apology …Each one of them," Ferb said kindly, and Phineas felt a gentle hand placed on his shoulder. He smiled as he heard Ferb continue, "I'm just glad you can finally see who I am."


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

Phineas just sat on the edge of Ferb's bed for a few silent minutes; he wasn't ready to go back to sleep just yet. Ferb sat beside him, also keeping his mouth shut, waiting to leave the next move to Phineas.

But after a couple of minutes of staring off into the corner of the room, Phineas gradually tipped his gaze back over to the hunched figure sitting next to him. Then, Phineas straightened up and pointed right at him.

"Ferb, what happened to you?"

Ferb drew his eyes away from his also distant stare, to look curiously back at Phineas. "…What do you mean?"

"I mean you're so _old!"_ Phineas returned with wide-open eyes as he continued to point stiffly at him.

Ferb just chuckled, amused. "Hah, Phineas, you've been running around being afraid of me this whole time. You're just now realizing that I'm old?"

"Well, half the time I didn't even know it was you," Phineas defended. "And the other half I didn't THINK it was you."

Phineas repositioned himself on the bed and kept looking at the air in front of him. He said softly, "It's just that I was sitting here imagining you as ten, and then I looked next to me and I just now realized that you're really _Ferb,_ and you're _old."_

"Seven years will do that to a guy," Ferb sighed back. But as he kept sitting with his elbows on his knees, Phineas wasn't finished staring at every inch of him.

"I was afraid of you, Ferb..." Phineas started as he kept his eyes on him. He took a deep breath. "...Because you're really different."

"I'm different?" Ferb repeated, taking his elbows to his side so he could sit a bit more upright. "How so?"

"Well," Phineas began. He reached forward and took Ferb's wrist with one hand, and placed his other hand on Ferb's shoulder. Then he drew out Ferb's arm at a length. He remarked, "Just look at how long your arms are!"

Ferb took it back and examined it himself. But now, Phineas was pointing at Ferb's knees.

"And your legs are so long that you can't even sit on the side of the bed anymore," he mentioned. "The way I remember it, you would sit here with your toes dangling over the floor. Now your knees are bent up because your heels are on the wood."

Ferb looked downwards, and was about to open his mouth in reply, but was interrupted by Phineas pointing at him again.

"You're really _really_ tall now," he made known factually.

"I'm not THAT tall..." Ferb mumbled as he rubbed the side of his arm, fidgeting. He waved a hand to explain, "I'm only 6' 4"."

_"Only_ 6' 4"? Ferb, that IS really tall," Phineas tried to point out.

"Not really," Ferb continued with a tone of uncertainty. "I mean, I'll admit I'm taller than most people... But it's not like I'm 6' 8" or 7 foot or something."

"Ferb, I'm not comparing you to a basketball player," Phineas replied flatly. "I'm comparing you to normal people. Like... do people stop you on the street to tell you that you're tall?"

"No...! Well..." Ferb muttered and broke eye contact. "That actually has happened a couple of times..."

"And your hair!" Phineas exclaimed in digression. "It goes all the way behind your ears now. And it's flying everywhere."

"Well I was just sleeping on it a couple of minutes ago," Ferb retorted, as he turned around to point at the middle of his bed. Then he reached up and scratched the back of his head as he looked awkwardly to the corner. "And I let it grow out a bit. Mom says it makes me look more mature."

Now Phineas had grabbed Ferb's wrist again. He pointed at the top of his forearm and exclaimed, "See, there's even some growing on your arms, too!"

Phineas pulled back and slumped his shoulders, now looking back to the teenager in front of him with a drooping frown. He breathed, "I know you told me you're seventeen, but you sure look a lot like an adult to me. You're different, Ferb. You're a lot different."

Phineas gave another large sigh and tipped his gaze to the floor. He shakily whispered, "I've memorized your face... I see you every day of my life."

Then he looked back at the person beside him and whimpered, "...And now you're different enough that I didn't even recognize you when I first saw you."

"Was that why you shrieked at me when you turned the corner the other day, and ran to hide in the closet?" Ferb ventured. "Now I get what that was all about..."

"I still trust that it's you in there somewhere," Phineas moaned. "But it's like you were eaten... by a seventeen-year-old. And I don't know where you went."

"I'm not different, Phineas..." Ferb began, but Phineas stopped him.

"I just gave you a big list!" was his retort. He gestured again towards Ferb, and how he was sitting on the edge of the bed. "Those arms aren't your arms anymore."

Ferb drew out his hand and looked reminiscently at its front and back. He pulled his arm out far in front of himself and stared at it.

"And look," Phineas began again. He pointed to the floor where Ferb's feet were resting. "Take off your sock."

"What? Why do you want me to take off my sock?" Ferb asked, confused. But Phineas just continued to gaze at him, prompting. So Ferb merely shrugged without argument, and bent forward. He grabbed the bunched-up toes of his left sock, and slid it off of his bare foot. He stretched out his toes as he wondered why Phineas was examining them.

"I know what Ferb's feet look like," Phineas stated. Then he threw his finger towards the floor. "And that's not your foot."

Still staring at it, Ferb lifted his foot off the wooden floor, and straightened out his leg. Then he set his heel back on the floor further away so that he could sit with his leg straight and examine his toes at an angle.

"I'm pretty sure that this is mine," Ferb mentioned.

"But I mean just LOOK at it!" Phineas almost shouted. "It's _ginormous!_ The Ferb that I remember doesn't have feet that are nearly that huge."

"The feet of a ten-year-old and the feet of a seventeen-year-old are vastly different, even if they're the same feet," Ferb pointed out. Then a thought occurred to him, and he waved a hand at Phineas. "But you know, you can't uphold your argument of 'Ferb, you're really tall,' if you refuse to believe the size of my feet. Tall people have huge feet, that's how we stand up."

Ferb kept looking at Phineas, as Phineas turned to look back towards him. Ferb gave a little grin. "If I had small feet, I would fall over."

"But, but," Phineas stuttered. He turned away again. "Those don't look _anything_ like your feet! Even your toes are freakishly lon-!"

"Can we stop with the thing about my feet?" Ferb managed to interrupt. He rubbed his temples and forehead, alternating. "They're attached to me, so they're my feet. We're saying 'feet' so much that it's starting to not even sound like a word anymore."

"Oh, yeah," mumbled Phineas, as he pressed his knees together and sat slightly forward.

"Sorry," Ferb mentioned, as he leaned down to slide his sock back on. When he straightened back up, he was giving a small consoling look to Phineas. "It just seemed like a cyclical conversation, I figure we should stop before we're stuck in it."


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

The clock had switched to 3am, and the sun almost wanted to peek once more over the horizon, come a few more hours. Phineas and Ferb had been sitting together on the edge of Ferb's bed for about an hour now.

"You know…" Ferb started quietly. Phineas turned to look at him as he listened. Then Ferb mentioned. "I was turned into a teenager against my will."

Phineas perked up and tilted his head. "You were? What does that mean?"

"Well, it was on my eleventh birthday," Ferb began. "They came to our house in the middle of the day. Mom and Dad tried to reason with them, and you begged them not to take me, but they did anyway."

Ferb place a hand over his mouth, and kept talking, "They bound me up, and took me to a dark room."

Then he put his wrists together and held them above his head. "They tied me up by the arms and legs."

He held out his pointer finger in the shape of a gun. "Then, I was shot with a laser beam that turned me into a teenager."

Ferb gestured sadly down to himself. "When they returned me to the house later that evening, I looked like this. The whole family was quite surprised, but nobody could find a way to change me back. So I've been a teenager ever since."

Phineas' lower lip was trembling and it looked as though he was on the verge of tears. He clutched onto Ferb's arm and wailed, "Oh, that sounds like it was horrifying! That actually happened to you?"

"No. No, it didn't," Ferb stated directly. Then, he grew a great big grin and bent over, laughing. Then it became loud cackling as he wiped a tear away from the corner of his eye. He turned back to Phineas and managed to say through his laughter, "Did you actually believe that complete load of nonsense?"

"Well, the way you worded it, it sounded believable!" Phineas defended. Then he shrunk down and looked up at Ferb. "…But none of it really happened, right?"

"No, of course it never happened," Ferb assured him. "I was turned into a teenager by the unseen force called _time_, and nothing else."

Slowly releasing his grip on Ferb's arm, Phineas whispered, "Good… because that was a terrifyingly scary story."

"I didn't mean to scare you, Phin," Ferb brought up. "…But that's how you're imagining it happened. I wanted to show you how silly it sounded when said out loud."

"That's not what I was thinking at all!" Phineas asserted, but Ferb just kept an eye on him.

"Yeah, it is," he insisted back. Then, Ferb turned himself to better face Phineas. He explained, "But getting older isn't something that aliens do to people in mysterious warehouses. It's something entirely normal that happens to everybody, whether we want it to or not."

He paused for a second, before he commented, "You just gave me a list of things that are different about me. But everything you said are things that come with growing up."

Ferb scooted up a little closer to Phineas on the bed. "So tell me, am I different on the inside?"

"I…" Phineas mumbled, while looking at him. Finally, he spoke, "I don't know. I've only been here in the future for, all together, about two days now. I haven't been here long enough to know if you're different on the inside. But I… I really hope you're not."

Phineas looked down at his lap, before returning his drooping eyes back to Ferb. He softly whispered, "I noticed… that you talk a lot more now."

"Ah," Ferb smiled. "I was wondering when we'd get around to that."

Phineas shuffled his hands on his knees as he waited for Ferb to voice his reply. He kept looking at him intently and hesitantly at the same time, until he finally spoke again.

"It was never a conscious decision, I just figure I have more to say," Ferb attempted to draw out. But then he gestured to point his thumb behind him. "But just last month you told me yourself that you liked it."

"I did?" Phineas requested. Ferb merely nodded in response. Taking a second of thought, Phineas turned back to Ferb and showed his own little smile. "…I do. I like hearing your voice more often than a couple of times a day. But, it's different."

Phineas then stopped talking. It seemed like the room was silent for a couple of minutes, though it was probably only a few seconds. Ferb could tell that the reason Phineas was staying silent was because he was caught up in thoughts.

"You're thinking about something, Phin," Ferb pestered. "I can see it."

Phineas tipped his gaze up again, moderately surprised that Ferb had seen right through him. But he just sighed in response. While staring at the corner of the room, he opened his mouth, "You live here in the future, Ferb. Maybe… can you answer me a question?"

"Sure thing, Phineas," Ferb replied gently. "Anything you want to know about the future, I'll be happy to tell you about."

Phineas kept staring distantly at the shadows of the room. "It's been bothering me a lot lately, and I figure… if _anybody_ knows the answer to it, you do. I know… that if I want a true and honest answer, I should just directly ask it to you, instead of just sitting here wondering about it all the time."

Merely nodding, Ferb stayed silent as he waited patiently for Phineas to present his question.

"I'm sitting here in 2015, and I'm from 2008," Phineas began. He heaved his chest up in a large exhale. "An—and, there's this huge gap between then and now. And I don't know if we were happy in that time, or sad, or if things in life—or between us—were good or bad. And not knowing what's out there is really scary."

Shuttering, Phineas tried to keep his thoughts contained. "We were really close when we were ten, Ferb. And so, even though I really sort of don't want to hear the answer, I have to ask… please tell me only the truth about it."

As he shut his eyes tightly, Phineas shook his head and tried to force it out. He finally asked his question softly, "…are you and I still friends in the future?"

"Phineas…" Ferb whispered back to him. He placed a hand on Phineas' knee in an effort to get him to open his eyes again. "Let me tell you a story. This time, it really 100% happened."

"Okk—okay," Phineas mumbled as he turned back around to face him.

"Yesterday, when we were at the mall, I told you that it opened three years ago on February 1st," Ferb reminded him. Then he gave Phineas an inquisitive expression. "Now, why did I word it like that. Wouldn't it suffice to simply say 'it opened three years ago'?"

"… Is February 1st important?" Phineas thought out loud. He threw his finger limply back and forth. "…That's nine days before your birthday."

"Precisely," Ferb relayed, showing a satisfactory smile. "I remember that day very well. The new mall was opening…"

Ferb stopped himself in mid-sentence so that he could give an obvious point at Phineas. "…and _you_ waited outside in a cold little tent so that you could be the first one in. But you wouldn't let me or anybody else wait with you, because you told me that it was very important and had to be a big surprise."

Ferb's smile showed again as he recalled his story and looked to the ceiling in reminiscence. "I didn't have any idea what it was all about, until my birthday rolled around more than a week later. You had gotten me the best present, and only one store in the new mall carried it. You waited all night in the chilly air so that you could get the only one, especially for me. That was for my fourteenth birthday."

He set his hand onto Phineas' shoulder and gave him a caring and reassuring look. "We were best friends when we were ten, we were still best friends when we were thirteen, and we're best friends right now."

Phineas sat still on the bedside as he let Ferb's words process through his mind. But, after waiting a few seconds, he remarked, "Well, aren't you going to tell me what I got you?"

"No, of course not," Ferb answered matter-of-factly.

"Aww, you got me all curious," Phineas whined. "Please tell me?"

"If I told you what it was, then you wouldn't be able to think of it yourself when the time comes," Ferb pointed out lightly. "It's only special if you thought of it yourself. We don't want to go messing up time too badly, do we?"

Ferb turned away as the room settled in silence once more. He murmured, "I don't think I've changed… I don't want to have changed."

Then Ferb fell over backwards to slump back into his bed. He put his feet on the mattress behind where Phineas was sitting, and placed his hands over his face. "But I've been being me for seven more years now. I can't tell how different I am from when I was ten."

He looked past his fingers to lock gazes once more with Phineas. He gestured a little point towards him. "Only you can say with objectivity if I've changed or not. I don't want to be a different person. Please tell me, Phineas. Am I different?"

"I d-don't know, Ferb," Phineas attempted to mutter. "I can't see you on the inside, I can't tell exactly who you are now. All I can see is your outside."

"Only my actions can tell you who I am…" Ferb spoke under his breath as he stared at the ceiling.

"Time changes lots of things," Phineas spoke distantly. "Time changes _everything._ I can only see your outside, Ferb… And it's different."

Phineas squinted up his face and let out a great frown. "I don't understand it! How, Ferb? How can you look that different on the outside and still be the same person on the inside? It can't be possible… After seven years, _how_ can you still be you?"

"I'm me, Phineas," Ferb assured him from his place on the bed. "I just… grew up a little."

"But you grew up!" Phineas cried. His eyes had grown watery now. "W-why did you have to grow up? I-I-I wish you and I could've stayed ten together, forever."

"Hey… hey," Ferb consoled, sitting upright and crawling back over the bed. This time, he sat right next to his brother so that Phineas could feel him against his side. Ferb wrapped his whole left arm securely around both of Phineas' shoulders.

"Time changes things, yes," Ferb started as he looked down at Phineas. He tried to give him a smile. "But change isn't all bad."

Phineas tipped his shiny eyes upwards to see Ferb's smiling face. Then, he ducked lower and pressed himself further against Ferb's chest as he hugged him.

"I don't want things to change," came Phineas' muffled voice.

"I might be taller by a foot or two, and maybe I neglect a haircut every once and a while," Ferb attempted to mention kindly. Then he unwrapped his arm and led Phineas to look at him. "…But I haven't become a monster."

Phineas tried to show his teeth as he listened to Ferb's words. But he ended up just looking downwards again.

"Time isn't a dark shadow that you should be afraid of, looming over everything, just looking for what to devour next," Ferb pointed out to him. "Time is a good thing."

Ferb gave Phineas a little nudge on the arm to get his attention. After a second of breathing, Phineas eventually returned his unenthusiastic gaze up to Ferb.

Giving him a raise of his eyebrows, Ferb reminded him, "Without time, we would never get to summer."

"Yeah, but WITH time, summer has to end," Phineas huffed in return.

Unable to stop Phineas from staring at the floor once more, Ferb just followed him and tipped his own gaze down towards it. But then, he looked sideways to examine his brother's face.

"Here," Ferb began, taking Phineas' hand off of where it was resting on Phineas' knee, and grasping it in his own. With a little hidden grin, Ferb stood up off of the bed. "Follow me."

Phineas leaned up in his posture to inspect the tall figure before him. Holding an inquisitive expression, Phineas asked, "Where are we going?"

"I have an idea," Ferb half-explained, pulling on Phineas' arm. "Just trust me on it."


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15**

Ferb pulled on Phineas' arm as he snuck out the bedroom door. Phineas was dragged along behind him as he tripped over his feet.

Hunching low, Ferb began to tiptoe down the hallway, one arm out in front of him, and the other still grasped lightly around Phineas' wrist.

"Where are we going?" Phineas whispered quietly as he tiptoed silently behind him. Ferb kept moving slowly forward, but turned around to place a finger on his lip as if to say, "Shh, Mom and Dad are sleeping." However, he had a look on his face that showed he might've been giggling if he were allowed to make a sound.

So Phineas just ducked low, as Ferb led him towards the stairs. Upon reaching them, Ferb let go of Phineas' arm and both of them stood up straight. Then, Ferb pressed his feet carefully over the steps as he placed a hand on the railing and made his way to the first floor. Phineas was not hesitant to follow close behind.

Ferb went over to the front livingroom, and sat onto the couch. Phineas went forward and joined him on his right.

"Why are we down here?" Phineas put forth, now able to talk louder that they were further from their parent's bedroom.

"You'll see," Ferb assured him. He turned to face directly at Phineas, and Phineas did the same. Ferb continued, "But first, I want you to close your eyes."

Phineas didn't object as he shut his eyes calmly. He did, however, ask softly, "Why did we come downstairs to do this?"

"I told you, Phin, I'll show you in just a minute," Ferb guaranteed with a trace of a laugh. "Right now, imagine something for me."

"Okay," Phineas agreed. He kept his head straight forward and his lids carefully closed. "What am I imagining?"

"Imagine me," Ferb hinted. "Sit there with your eyes closed, and imagine me when I was ten years old."

"I've been imagining ten-year-old you all night," Phineas revealed, but shrugged and kept his previous position of sitting upright, unmoving.

"Imagine what I looked like," Ferb drew out. "Imagine how tall I was, and just imagine me..."

"Are you hypnotizing me…?" Phineas suggested slightly loudly. Though, he did still keep his eyes shut.

"Hah, no I'm not hypnotizing you," Ferb promised. "But you can open your eyes now."

Phineas flickered his eyes, and almost jumped back in surprise. Right in front of his face, Ferb was holding his hand, fingers stretched out stiffly.

"What do you see?" Ferb presented.

"I see your hand," Phineas said as he stared at it.

Ferb held it very still, as he flexed his fingers straighter. "What else."

"...Your palm..." Phineas added as he tilted his head.

Ferb grinned, but kept holding up his hand. "I mean what's different about it."

"Oh," Phineas realized. He reached up to grab Ferb's hand to inspect it better. "For one, it doesn't even look like your hand anymore."

"Specifically...?" Ferb rolled his other hand in furthering.

"Your fingers are a whole lot longer..."

"Exactly," Ferb finally revealed. "That's what I was getting at."

"But I don't get why we came down here for that," Phineas asked again. "And plus, I already told you that you have long fingers."

Then Ferb moved to the side, out of Phineas' field of view. Phineas focused on the room that had come into his vision, and he was now looking into. It was the back room, where Phineas remembered the second couch was supposed to be. Now here in the future, there was no longer a couch, but instead a large piano in the corner.

Throwing his thumb behind his shoulder to point at it, Ferb commented, "...I played the keyboard when I was ten."

"Yeah," Phineas said, as he got a little brighter. "You're really good."

Then Phineas gestured into the back room. "Where did that come from anyway?"

"We got that at a garage sale… oh, about four years ago," Ferb explained. "So we moved the couch and television to the other side of the wall."

Now Ferb had held up his hand again, this time a little lower and less deliberately. He glanced at it with his fingers stretched, before looking back upwards to Phineas. "I was really good when I was ten… but I've been practicing for seven years now. I'm a lot better."

Ferb stood up off of the couch again, and began to back up towards the other room. He drew out a finger in a beckoning motion. "C'mere, Phin! C'mere."

Phineas smiled as he pushed himself up to follow. By now, Ferb had disappeared through the doorway, and when Phineas peeked his head in, he could see him sitting behind the keys.

He looked up at Phineas and gave him a welcoming look, inviting him to come over. Phineas took it gladly, and went over to sit beside him on the thin, cushioned piano bench. They had to squish slightly together to both fit on it.

Pulling off the lid over the keys, Ferb mentioned with a half-glance to Phineas, "What should I play for you?"

As he placed a finger over his chin, Phineas thought for a moment, and then asked, "Can you play Flight of the Bumblebee?"

"Ptff," was Ferb's reaction as he waved his hand. "You don't want me to play that, that one's easy. I mastered it when I was twelve."

Ferb drew out both of his hands and cracked his knuckles. Then, he placed them over the keys, where his fingers easily covered many of them.

"How about this one," he mentioned. Ferb pressed down with probably seven of his ten fingers, and Phineas heard the piano begin to emit a wonderful few notes. Then Ferb had moved to a second position and, in not even a moment's time, had moved to a third. Phineas listened quietly and marvelously as he heard a song coming from the white keys.

The way that Ferb was moving his fingers so quickly over the notes, and sound of the notes themselves, made the piano almost not even sound like a piano at all. Phineas thought he nearly recognized the tune, but Ferb was playing slightly slower than it was written. Maybe this was because he knew Phineas was getting tired and didn't want to wake him up. The song also sounded much prettier on the piano, when played slower.

After finishing his intro, Ferb left his fingers on the keys to draw out a chord for a second or two. Then, once he had taken a smiling glance at Phineas, Ferb opened his mouth and gave it some lyrics.

"It's been a long, long day…" Ferb sung softly as he focused on playing the notes. He took a second's pause to play, before singing the next line.

"And there were moments when I doubted…"

"Hey…" The corners of Phineas' mouth turned up in a huge grin. He watched as Ferb's gently curled fingers hit the keys with only their tips, and every note of the song was played exactly as he remembered it. Phineas kept smiling as he and Ferb looked at each other, Ferb still intently and skillfully tapping each key.

"I know this song!" Phineas exclaimed brightly, as he leaned a little closer to Ferb and watched his hands. Ferb didn't budge from his position as he felt Phineas next to him. Ferb still sung quietly, but a little louder than he had been.

"…That we'd ever reach the point… where we could laugh and sing about it."

Phineas closed his eyes happily as he listened to the melodic sounds of Ferb's playing. Now Ferb had stopped singing for a moment to play an instrumental portion. Phineas could hear so many notes being played at the same time, he had to open his eyes again to make sure Ferb was the only one on the piano.

Phineas had seen Ferb play this song on the keyboard before. But he had never seen him do it with such lengthy arms, and never with such long and expert fingers. In fact, even the sound of the music was fuller, as though it was a whole symphony playing, and not just one person. Each finger worked individually and together with the rest, simultaneously.

Watching fixedly, Phineas marveled as Ferb's hand jumped from one end of the keyboard to the clear other side and back again, almost instantaneously. The notes all came together on top of each other in exactly the right order, to form one of Phineas' favorite songs as he listened quietly to his brother playing.

"It sounds so pretty," Phineas whispered to him as he kept listening. "Are you just playing the keyboard part?"

"Nope," was Ferb's short reply, as he kept his eyes on the movement of his fingers.

Phineas followed his hands for a moment, before he had to ask, "You're playing more? Which parts are you playing?"

Ferb let his hands run some more along the keys, before he took his eyes away to glance at Phineas. He gave him a grin as he continued to play. "All of them."

Jaw slacking, Phineas looked back and forth between Ferb and the piano. "…You're playing the notes for the keyboard, and the trumpet, _and_ the guitar, all at the same time? And on the same piano?"

With another little grin, Ferb nodded, now watching his own hands as they moved from one end to the other; his fingers looked as though they should be tripping over each other. Nevertheless, each note was hit precisely in correct timing, and not a single one was ever missed.

Gently leaning forward, Phineas took Ferb's left arm in his hand and raised it off the keys. Ferb hardly flinched as he let his right one continue playing. The song sounded funny with half its notes missing, but Ferb managed to make it sound beautiful.

Holding up Ferb's hand, Phineas examined the partially limp fingers and compared it to the other one that was drifting seamlessly over the keys. Phineas gaped in wonder, "Do you have enough fingers to do that?"

"Apparently," Ferb replied, as Phineas released his wrist and Ferb returned it to playing. He picked up exactly where his right one was in the song, adding the notes as if nothing had happened. "But like I said. I've had more than a few years of practice."

As he listened to the familiar song created by the notes, Phineas could hear that Ferb had gradually sped it up, and was now playing at normal speed, which was quite fast. Then Phineas realized that Ferb had gone through another one or two verses, and neither of them had been singing along to it.

So, Phineas glanced out the window at the dark sky of late, late night, and listened with easily relaxed ears to wait for the right time to come in.

"Now the sun has set on this, another extraordinary day!" Phineas sung along eagerly to the tune being played beside him.

Ferb played another measure hard on the keys, before freezing his fingers in one position to halt the music. Then, he turned to Phineas and sung deliberately, "And when it comes around again, you'll know I'll saaayy…"

When he resumed playing, Ferb's notes sounded again like the ones assigned to the trumpet. Phineas even thought he heard the ones for the drums in there. Still running each finger over the white-painted wooden pieces, Ferb leaned sideways on top of Phineas, and sung purposefully next to him, "Tell me whatcha wanna do today? All we need is a place to start…"

"…If we have heart, we'll make it," Phineas sung back to him, countering the leaning by wrapping his right arm around Ferb's shoulders and leaning back onto him. "…'cause we're not messin' around…"

"…We're not messin' around…"

Ferb played even faster and they both sang out loudly and in unison, "Yes we can dream it, do it, build it, make it. I know we can really take it. To the limit! Before the sun goes dooooowwwwnnnn."

Now Phineas had his arm wrapped entirely around his brother's neck, and Ferb kept playing every note of the song as if nothing was hindering him. Then, they both went on to sing the next low and quick verse perfectly together.

"As soon as you wake up you gotta make your move. Don't miss the beat, just get into the groove. The sun is shining, there's a lot that you can dooooo!"

Phineas sung the last line solo, as Ferb dropped out and echoed again, "A lot that you can do…"

Phineas led them both, "There's a world of possibilities outside our door. Why settle for a little? You can get much more! Don't need an invitation, every day is neeeeewww!"

Ferb's playing was going along with Phineas' lead singing flawlessly, and to the second. Ferb kept his practiced hands tapping the keys as they both started the chorus, Phineas beginning, and Ferb repeating along behind him.

"Yes, it's truuuueee!" Phineas called out to the music. "Summer belongs to you!"

"…Summer belongs to you…"

Phineas clutched and hung onto Ferb while he shouted again, "Summer beloooongs to yooooooouuuuuuu!"

Ferb was now paying careful attention to his quick hands as his brother clung to him, but echoed all the same, "…Summer belongs to you…!"

"Summer belongs to Every! One! So! Have! Some! Fun!" Phineas put extra emphasis on each word, as he remembered the song with warmth. Ferb came in again on the last line, "There's nothing better to do!"

As he smiled hugely, Phineas sang the final line by himself, watching Ferb's dedicated hands. Phineas opened his mouth to call, "Summer belongs to yoooooooou!"

While Phineas held out the last word, Ferb unhesitantly continued on with his fingers, showing an impressive array of every note in the song, landing at the end on all ten of his fingers. As the piano finished the sound, it could almost have been the sound of a cymbal.

The room was left far from silent, as Phineas had erupted in happy giggling and held on tighter to Ferb's neck. He managed to say through his laughter, "That was sooo much fun, Ferb! You're the best piano player I've ever heard, ever."

Ferb only smiled as he moved his hands to his knees. "You're just being nice."

"No, really! Your hands are like ninjas!" Phineas insisted. He was able to sit up and attempted to contain himself. He breathed, "And I love that song! …I can't believe you still remember it, too. I mean it was just last month for me, but for you, it must've been a really long time ago."

"I could never forget that trip!" Ferb pointed out plainly as he faced him on the cushioned bench. "Whether it was last month, or last year, or last decade. I'll always remember that day with you, Phineas. Even if I was only ten years old back then."

Then they were slightly interrupted by the sound of footsteps coming from upstairs, followed by the soft and quiet voice of their mother.

"…Boys?" she spoke as she came down the first few steps. "…What are you two doing down here?"

Ferb tipped one eye over his shoulder to glance at her. She was still in her nightgown, hair rollers, and slippers.

"…Phineas couldn't sleep," Ferb explained as he half-turned around. "So I thought I'd play something for him."

"Well, it sounded very nice," their mom admitted. "But do you have to do it at 3:30 in the morning?"

"I'm sorry, Mom. He was sleeping, and I woke him up," Phineas tried to confess bashfully.

"…So that we could both not be able to sleep, together," Ferb added, ending with a half-guilty and kind expression.

"Oh, all right," their mom reluctantly agreed. "But if you have to, stay awake quietly. And get to sleep within the next ten minutes or you'll be tired tomorrow."

"Sure thing," Ferb returned, as they both watched their mom retreat back up the steps. As Ferb turned back around, Phineas scooted closer to him and rested his head sleepily on his shoulder.

"Play something slower," he requested in a whisper.

"Okay," Ferb started softly. He put his fingers back on the keys and pressed only a couple down in a gradual melody. Phineas didn't recognize the song, but he took in each sounding note for its beauty.

Lightly pressing each key, Ferb left the notes to hang for a second each, letting the song flow quietly in the room. He kept his hands rolling relaxingly in the center of the piano, straying up or down rarely. The harmonic sounds went through Phineas' ears and droned out the rest of the world, as he fought to flicker his heavy and drooping eyelids.

"That's… real… prett…y…" Phineas mumbled, but the last of his sentence barely made its way out. The air that was supposed to form his word finished by only floating out of his gently-open mouth. His cheek was squished on Ferb's shoulder as Phineas hugged hands limply around his brother's arm.

Phineas didn't say anything after that. As Ferb felt his warm grip, he held his left arm perfectly still for him, and kept playing his gentle tune. Eventually he slowed it enough that it was just a few steady, drawn-out notes. He held the last two or three, before the last sound of the piano echoed distantly, to leave the room silent.

Ferb glanced down to Phineas' snuggled figure, and a knowing smile grew onto his face as he watched Phineas' expressionless mouth and closed lids. Finally, sitting here downstairs at nearly 4am, Phineas had happily drifted off into a sound sleep.

* * *

**Summer Belongs To You on Piano: platyfanatic(.tumblr)(.com)/post/21534318841/another-piano-arrangement-this-time-summer **Delete parentheses


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16**

As the morning sun shone brightly through the window at 7am, Phineas snuggled at the warmth of his blanket. He blinked his eyes open, to see the tall shape of Ferb sleeping beneath his own covers in the bed across.

Phineas had slightly hoped he would finally wake up in 2008 this morning, but he grew a small smile when he realized that he wasn't all that disappointed.

A glance at the clock confirmed Phineas' suspicions; it was indeed 7:01am. So Phineas grabbed his pillow, raised it high above his head, and launched it towards his brother's face. The force behind it caused a _thunk_ sound, and after it had collided with Ferb, it bounced off and fell to the floor.

"Mmff…uh, I'm up, I'm up," Ferb mumbled as he pulled his arm out from where it was under his own pillow, and began to sleepily push off his sheets.

But after Phineas saw Ferb sit up, he realized that he didn't know what he planned to say to him. Normally, back at home, Phineas would suggest some crazy plan to do today. But… what was he supposed to say here in the future? What would happen if he suggested something and… and… and Ferb said he didn't want to build with him anymore?

Ferb saw Phineas' expression, and sat forward on the bed's edge a bit. "What's on your mind, Phin?"

"Um, well," Phineas began, keeping his legs hung off of his own mattress. "It's just… I don't really know how to talk to you. With this being the future, and all."

"You were talking to me fine last night," Ferb reminded him with a tilting head.

"I know… But that was in the middle of the night," Phineas pointed out. "It's just weird knowing that you remember seven more years than I do. It's like all of the sudden you know me better than I know you."

"Talking to me in the middle of the night is no different than talking to me in the middle of the day," Ferb told him pointedly. Then he tried to laugh. "And if you use 'Years known someone' as a measurement for how well you _know_ them, then technically I know you better than you know yourself."

Phineas' face was confused as he looked back at Ferb. Ferb continued, "Because I've known you for fourteen years, and you've only known yourself for ten. Now, that's not very logical, is it? So clearly, it's an inaccurate measurement scale, and should be entirely disregarded."

Phineas tried to laugh; Ferb did have a bit of a point. But, he couldn't get the corners of his mouth to go up any higher than a few inches, before they dropped again.

"Still feeling down?" Ferb observed. Phineas only slowly nodded.

"Here. I know what'll make you feel better," Ferb suggested, standing up from the bed. He made a gesture with his hand to get Phineas to stand up, too. Then, he reached his arm over to his desk, and grabbed a book off its surface. He moved it over, and placed it into Phineas' hands. "A perfect start to the day."

Staring at it curiously, Phineas turned it around and noticed that it was about an inch thick. It was still a pretty big book, though, and got most of its size from width and height. Phineas turned it to its front and read the word printed on the cover.

"…Geology?" Phineas read questioningly. "Why will studying about geology make me feel better? Ferb, I'm only ten, I don't know any of this high school stu—"

"No, silly," Ferb half-interrupted him. He pointed at the book in Phineas' hands. "I want you to hit me with it."

"What…?" Phineas reacted. He tossed his wide gaze back and forth between the book in his hands and Ferb. Eventually he stopped on Ferb, and argued, "But Ferb… you're old enough to be my babysitter! I can't possibly hit my _babysitter_ with huge textbook! It wouldn't be right!"

"Alright, Phineas," Ferb said quite loudly, with a surprisingly commanding and dominate tone and a hard point at him. "I want you to stop thinking about all this 'But you're seven years older than me' hodgepodge."

Phineas stopped and stared up at him. "What? Ferb, I thought you said you believed me! I really am from 2008-!"

"No no no, Phin," Ferb corrected himself. "I do believe you. I'm just saying…"

He paused for a moment as he tried to think about how to word it. Then he lightly pointed at Phineas and asked directly, "Who are you?"

"…Me?" Phineas repeated with a cocked head.

Ferb nodded. "Yes. Who are you."

"…I'm Phineas," he answered after a little delay.

"Right," Ferb replied. Then he pointed to himself. "And who am I?"

Phineas lifted a flimsy finger and pointed at him. "Well… you're Ferb. But I—"

"Precisely," Ferb concluded. "I'm Ferb and you're Phineas."

Ferb grasped his hands around the textbook, pulling it upwards between them both, with Phineas' hands still attached to the bottom of it. He remarked, "And that's all that should matter. So hit me with this book."

Ferb bent down a little, turning his shoulder to him. He patted it lightly with his other hand. "Go on. Right there."

Holding the textbook, Phineas took another glance at it. He raised it a little higher and admitted, "Um, okay."

Making a little circular motion, the book came around and made contact with Ferb's shoulder. Ferb barely flinched.

"Aaaah," Ferb complained. "I said hit me, not tap me lightly. Hit me like you mean it."

"But I don't mean it," Phineas pointed out. "I need a reason to hit you."

"Okay," Ferb agreed. He went around to the desk again, and grabbed up a math book. When he returned to Phineas, he was holding the book in his right hand out in front of him. With a strong flick of his wrist, he had smacked Phineas hard on the side of his arm.

"Ow!" Phineas reacted. "Why'd you do that for?"

Ferb smiled sinisterly back at him. "You told me to."

"No I didn't!"

"Perhaps indirectly," he returned, retaining his smiling. Then he bent down again and showed his shoulder to Phineas. "Go on, Phineas, I'll rephrase it. Hit me like you're hitting your brother."

"But Ferb," Phineas started, raising the book high above his head. He was grinning deviously from under it. "I _am_ hitting my brother!"

Pulling the book down in a full circle, it ended with a hard _thwack_ as it collided squarely on Ferb. He staggered back with waving arms, and tripped over the side of his bed, to land in a heap on the bunched up purple bedspread. He didn't move or say anything as he lay there.

"Oh, Ferb, I didn't mean to hurt you…!" Phineas reacted as he stepped forward towards him. "Are you hurt? You're not moving…"

But as Phineas reached the bed, Ferb's arm suddenly shot up and grabbed hold of the front of Phineas' pajama shirt. Phineas felt himself dragged forward and before he even knew what was happening, found himself falling face-first into the unmade covers of Ferb's bed. Halfway through the motion, Ferb had burst out into laughter and jumped off the bed as he watched Phineas' confusion.

Blowing puffs of air out of his mouth, Phineas fought to push himself up from the bed. He turned around just fast enough to see Ferb staring at him from the bedroom doorway. He still had on a huge playful grin, and when he saw that Phineas had spotted him, he grabbed onto the white door moulding and retreated into the hallway.

"Hey!" Phineas shouted. "Get back here, you!"

But Phineas knew that Ferb was quick. So he untangled himself from the bed covers as fast as he could, tripping over them as he aimed for the doorway. He only fell to his hands and knees once, scrambling to get to the door.

"You'll never get away with it that easily, Ferb Fletcher!" Phineas yelled out to the hallway as he shoved his head through the open door. He couldn't hide his sneaking laughter as he searched all up and down the now-empty hall. He vowed loudly, "I'll have my revenge!"

Phineas got to his bare feet and ran down the carpeted hall. He reached the stairs, and looked down to the first floor. "…I know you're here somewhere…"

Pressing his toes onto the stairs, he snuck down them sideways with both hands on the rail. He kept a watchful eye at the livingroom, and all around the bottom of the steps as he descended them.

Upon reaching the bottom, Phineas looked first into the kitchen, then at the back room. He crouched low and proceeded to tiptoe into the front livingroom.

As he slowly walked past the couch, Phineas felt arms suddenly wrapped around him, and he was sent crashing onto the carpet. Phineas grumbled in annoyance as he tried to push off the person who had knocked him over, who had also tumbled to the carpeted floor.

"Hey, you got me twice in a row!" Phineas complained.

"I'm winning," Ferb returned with a laugh, as he tried to push himself up. But Phineas was quick and spun around on the floor, reaching up with a hand to grab the back of Ferb's shirt. He yanked him hard and sent him falling, as Phineas shot up to his feet and ran towards the kitchen.

Phineas made a straight beeline towards the back door, hiding his giggling with a hand over his mouth. He slipped out of the door and closed it behind him, slinking down into the grass beside the house. He could still hear footsteps coming from inside.

But as Phineas surveyed his hiding spot, his eyes fell onto the garden hose and squirting attachment. An evil, toothy grin crept to the very corners of his mouth, and he crawled forward and grabbed for it.

The footsteps grew closer, and as Phineas sat in the grass and shadows with his weapon at the ready, he heard the clicking sound of the door handle.

"Phine—" Ferb's voice started. But as soon as Phineas caught sight of his feet walking out and his green hair was visible, Phineas had squeezed his trigger and sent a flying wet shower all up and down over him.

Ferb immediately stopped in mid walk, and looked down at his sopping wet, dripping pajamas. He spat some water out of his mouth and flipped his head to move the wet clumps of hair that clung to his face. Then, he looked down at the figure of Phineas, hiding next to the wall of the house.

Phineas pulled his arms closer to himself and slunk further down, drawing the hose to his chest as he clutched his hands around it. He stared up guiltily at the dripping-wet Ferb as he waited to see what he would do.

Ferb squinted at him, but his ominous smile said it all. He reached forward and snatched the garden hose out of Phineas' hands, cackling menacingly as he did it.

Jumping up after it, Phineas tried to grab it back from him. But Ferb took the metal attachment end, and held it high above his head. He watched in satisfied amusement as Phineas attempted vainly to leap up and grab it.

"Not fair! Not fair!" Phineas complained between bounces as he waved his outstretched fingers not even close to where Ferb's long arm was. But then, Ferb lowered it a little bit so Phineas could reach.

Victoriously, Phineas wrapped his fingers around the metal piece and managed to grab it. But… Phineas reacted with surprise when the nozzle opened, and sprayed a stream of sloshing water that poured all over Phineas' nice fluffy pajamas.

Ferb snorted as he tried to resist laughing, still holding the hose safely above his head. Phineas looked down at his sopping self, and before he had even processed what had happened, he had burst into uncontrollable giggling. At this, Ferb couldn't hold his own laughter back, either.

Now Phineas had tried to step forward, but slipped on the wet grass. His arms flung around and grabbed onto the dangling hose, still held in Ferb's hand, and the force of Phineas' fall sent Ferb tripping overtop of him.

Both of them didn't even bother to sit up. They just lay there, dripping and heartily giggling in a heap over each other.

"After all this time…" Phineas mumbled with his face half in the grass.

"What's that?" Ferb asked, as he lifted his head up and around Phineas' elbow to look at him. Phineas smiled back when he saw his face.

"After all this time," Phineas repeated reminiscently. "You're still you."

Ferb grinned warmly. Showing his teeth, he breathed, "I'm glad."

Then he heaved himself up off of Phineas, and tried to sit on his knees in the soggy grass. He turned to look at his brother and mentioned, "Hey, Phin. Guess what?"

"What?" Phineas asked as he, too, leaned to sit upright and face him.

Ferb revealed, "Today is Saturday."

"So?" Phineas asked in response.

"So!" Ferb tried to elaborate. "We have the day off. We have a whole sixteen hours to _do_ something."

"D-d-do something?" Phineas forced his words to stutter out, almost in disbelief. "You mean like…? You and I still _do_ stuff?"

"Yes, of course," Ferb confirmed with a nod. "Did you think _the_ Phineas and Ferb stopped building things simply because we got older?"

"Well, I mean with _high school…_ and all that," Phineas mumbled his thought. "I thought that maybe… we didn't have time anymore…"

"True, weekdays are filled with school in the morning and homework in the evenings," Ferb admitted. "But Saturday and Sunday are free for anything under the sun."

Phineas' face brightened widely. "Really? Can we do something together today?"

"I'd love to," Ferb smiled. Then, he lifted the front of his shirt up a bit and wrung it out. "Though first, I think we'd better get out of our pajamas and throw them in the wash."

Phineas giggled again and pointed at Ferb's dripping hair. "And maybe find some towels," he said with a grin behind his hand.


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17**

After Phineas and Ferb got themselves sufficiently dry and changed into day clothes, Ferb drug Phineas out into the garage with a wave of his hand.

"This is the box where we keep the extra blueprints of everything," Ferb pointed, as he pulled out a clear plastic tub from a shelf on the wall. Phineas' eyes opened bright and wide as he stared at the stack of papers that filled it to the brim. They weren't rolled and rubber-banded, like he thought they would be, but rather stacked on top of each other and neatly folded. This was probably so that more could be fit in the tub.

"…How many are there?" Phineas asked, gaping-mouthed and marvelously.

"There's a hundred and four days of summer vacation…" Ferb began as they looked at each other. "And seven summers since 2008."

Phineas' teeth almost took over his whole face as he opened his mouth and his cheeks reached his ears. He asked brilliantly, "Did we do stuff every single day?"

"Well, some projects took longer than a day, but it averages out if you count weekends in the school year, and holidays," Ferb looked to the corner and counted on his fingers. He concluded as he looked back to Phineas, "So, one could say yes. Yes we have."

"What did we do? Tell me please!" Phineas begged as he pulled on Ferb's arm.

"Heh, well it's no fun if it's not a surprise," Ferb mentioned. But Phineas gave large and sad eyes up at him. Ferb rolled his eyes at that puppy dog face.

"Ohh, alright," Ferb gave in, as he smirked at Phineas. "We did lots of stuff. We actually made a really awesome time machine about a year ago."

Phineas listened intently as Ferb told him about it. Ferb mentioned, "I was going to say you might see some of it come October 2008, but you probably won't, because that was on a different dimensional plane."

"Oh, okay. That makes sense," Phineas concluded happily. But he scooted forward to show that he clearly wasn't done listening yet.

"We always do stuff for your birthday. Fireworks and all that somesuch. Always something different," Ferb relayed. Phineas' eyes were shining now.

But then Ferb grew a little red in the face and reached over to scratch the side of his arm. "Oh… and there was this one time when we made a remote control maker. That was rather interesting."

He then smiled and waved it off. "But everything turned out just fine, so I don't see a reason to warn you about it. It definitely made the week fun, that's for sure."

Ferb gestured out to the backyard. "But during the school year, you and I normally plan our projects during the week, then build them over the weekend."

"Did we have something planned for today?" Phineas put forward.

"Indeed we did," Ferb replied. Then he looked into Phineas' eyes. "But seeing the circumstances, I think it's right to let you pick. Whatever you want to do today, I'll do it with you."

Phineas drew up his lower lip in thought. He put his hand on his chin and stared out the open garage door. He spotted their backyard tree, and the large wooden treehouse that sat up in its branches.

"Hah, we just fixed that up last month. Now it's all broken again," Phineas laughed. Ferb came over and joined him to stare upwards.

"Well, after we fixed it we never touched it for another seven years," Ferb explained.

"We can't have that! Ferb, I know what we're going to do today!" Phineas shouted. "Let's fix it again, just you and me."

"Sounds like a plan," Ferb agreed cheerfully. Phineas' cell phone was apparently sitting on the surface of the nearby workdesk. Ferb leaned over and grabbed it, tossing it to Phineas as he said, "Go on, Phin. Do your thing."

* * *

The delivery truck dropped off several orders of lumber, as well as rope for ladders and a couple new furnishings. After an hour or two of hauling it up to the top of the tree, Phineas and Ferb both sat on the highest roof and surveyed the almost-finished work.

Ferb wiped a bit of sweat off of his brow with his left hand, as he held a hammer in the other. He leaned on one arm and sat with his legs bent under him.

"I think we need just one more panel to replace this partially-rotted roof," Ferb pointed out as he knocked on the wood under him.

"Yeah, this is just a bit rickety, probably needs one more support under it, too," Phineas answered.

"Alright, I'll head down and put a few more supplies in the crane," Ferb suggested as he began to lean up. He was stopped by Phineas' address.

"Hey Ferb?" Phineas began. Ferb paused and sat down again, to look at him. Phineas stared at him for a second, before softly mentioning, "You're the best."

Ferb smiled warmly, but replied, "That came out of nowhere."

"I know, but I just wanted to say that," Phineas responded. "I couldn't have asked for a better brother than you."

For the moment, Ferb had decided to give up on his previous plan of going back down to ground level. Now, he simply sat on his knees on the roof of the treehouse, staring back caringly at Phineas.

"I'm really glad to finally hear you say that again, Phineas," Ferb mentioned kindly. He took a glance at the beaten-down wood they were sitting on, that they planned on replacing. "I wouldn't give any of this up for the world."

"The future is really cool," Phineas finally admitted gladly. He tipped his slightly lowered eyes towards Ferb. "I've always looked up to you. And I really like how you turned out."

Phineas grinned, squishing his cheeks over his eyes. He declared cheerfully, "I wanna be just like you when I grow up."

"Pff, that's a silly thing to say," Ferb almost snorted. "You'll be just like you when you grow up."

Then Ferb pulled his hand into a fist and pointed with his thumb at himself. "It's me who'll be just like me."

"Well that's good, too," Phineas replied in conclusion. "I like you just like you."


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter 18**

Ferb hammered a nail into the new board below him. Now they only had a few more pieces to go before they had replaced this rotted section of roof.

"I've been wondering something though, Ferb," Phineas started as he glanced upwards to him. Ferb looked back attentively as Phineas asked, "I wonder why I haven't jumped back to 2008 yet?"

Setting his hammer down, Ferb thought for a moment. Then he mentioned, "What made you jump the first times?"

"I honestly have no idea," Phineas admitted questioningly. "I'd just be standing there doing something, and then all of the sudden I'd be in the future. Sometimes it even happened while I was sleeping."

"Perhaps you have to do something here in the future, in order to go back," Ferb suggested.

"I dunno," Phineas answered thoughtfully. "All the other times it was just random."

He tossed his finger around as he tried to help himself think. "Maybe something in my own time is keeping me here. But before, it only lasted a couple of hours. Now, this jump or leap or whatever has been going on for almost two days. I wonder if I'll ever get back home…"

"It seems like it always jumps you back eventually," Ferb assured him.

"Oh I know! Is the museum still here? I could just go take that time machine that we fixed before. That runs on the same dimension, right?" Phineas exclaimed in realization.

But Ferb only shook his head at him. "Yep, that would work to GET you there. But don't forget that you jumped into your seventeen-year-old self."

With a little chuckle, Ferb kept telling him, "You'd get back home, sure. But you'd still be seventeen."

"Oh, yeah," Phineas admitted bashfully. "I sorta forgot about that for a sec."

As Ferb repositioned himself on the old, rickety wood that he was sitting on, he waved his hand in explanation. "I bet seventeen-year-old you is back in 2008 right now. Like you swapped times, or flopped with yourself."

"Well…" Phineas shrugged. "Being stuck here isn't so bad. Ever since I stopped being totally afraid of it, I think the future is actually pretty fun."

"Ahh," Ferb replied, a little bit sneakily. "Planning on joining me at high school on Monday, then?"

"Oohhh… ummmm," Phineas began to mumble as he scratched his head. "I didn't really think of that…"

"Eh, think about it," Ferb compromised. "If it comes around to it, you can always stay home sick."

"But I'm not sick," Phineas argued. "That would be lying."

"You could say you're not feeling yourself," Ferb pointed out, moving his legs a bit on the wooden board. "That would be the truth."

"I dunno," Phineas repeated. "I guess we—"

A loud noise interrupted Phineas' sentence and he felt a resonating jolt on the strong wooden surface beneath him. Phineas shook his head as he tried to process what the sound was. He realized it when he took a glance over to Ferb: It had been the sound of cracking wood.

"F-F-Ferb, be careful!" Phineas shouted at him. Ferb's plank that he had been sitting on had almost snapped at the end, and now was hanging at about a forty-five degree angle from half of its splinters. Ferb had quickly repositioned to his hands and knees to get better stability as he clutched onto it.

"Ferb! Don't move!" Phineas told him as he reached his hand out towards him. "…Try to crawl over here!"

"You j-just told me… not to move…" Ferb whispered, speaking each word as carefully as he could.

Phineas slowly made his way to the end of the newly-placed boards, and leaned out over the rotted ones. He looked downwards with panicked eyes, and saw nothing but the distant green grass below.

Ferb lurched again as another splinter broke, and the board dropped another few inches to a greater angle. Phineas whimpered as he tried to stretch his arm out to Ferb a second time, but Ferb had shut his eyes tightly and was clutching strongly onto the edges of the board, and Phineas' hand was nowhere near him.

"P-P-Phineas," Ferb said shakily as he blinked his eyes to look at him. Phineas could tell that even Ferb was scared right now. He gulped, "This might've been a bad idea…"

A loud snapping sound broke through the air and hit Phineas' ears, and Ferb had disappeared. But Phineas couldn't see anything as he shook his head in terror. A bright white light had overtaken him.

"FERB!" Phineas cried out as he tried to make out anything. Low, muffled voices came into fruition around him. He kept shouting, "Ferb!"

"Phineas!" came a familiar, worried voice. He recognized it to be Isabella's. It called again, "Phineas! What happened?"

Slowly the shapes of the fence, grass, and backyard focused into view. Phineas saw the concerned faces of Isabella, Baljeet and Buford circled around him. And Ferb, ten-year-old Ferb.

"FERB!" Phineas yelled as he pointed straight at him. Phineas clutched his hands up into the air and held a crazed look. "YOU JUST FELL OFF A TREE IN THE FUTURE!"

Everybody just stared worriedly at Phineas as he put his hands on the sides of his head and started shuffling around in a circle. He kept fretting with wide eyes, "He just fell off! I didn't see him after it broke! And there was nothing under him!"

"Phineas!" Isabella shouted into his ear as she grabbed him by the shoulders. She said directly at him, "Ferb is fine!"

"Not ten-year-old Ferb," Phineas said loudly back to her with a wide-open mouth. He threw his arms once more in the air. "Seventeen-year-old Ferb!"

"_Seventeen-_year-old Ferb is fine, too, Phineas," Baljeet spoke up, coming beside Isabella to look at him.

"You can't say that!" Phineas shouted again. "You're not in the future!"

"C'mon, c'mon man," Buford tried to stop him. "Don't worry, 'cause Future Ferb is okay."

"He can't be!" Phineas kept fussing. "Cause that's like… like… like five stories high!"

Then Phineas started running all around the backyard, looking up at their almost-new treehouse and running his feet all in the grass. He pointed up and cried, "Right there! He just fell…! I have to… I have to… I have to, catch him, or or…"

His four friends had followed him in his quick pacing, and now had grouped around him so that he had nowhere to go. He stopped moving, but kept looking back and forth over their shoulders as if he thought that if he kept looking hard enough, he could see into the future.

But then Ferb stepped out in front of him. Phineas stopped moving and looked up at his face. Ferb put his hand on his brother's shoulder and whispered, "Phineas. I'll be fine."

"B-B-But… you can't _know_, that," Phineas whimpered. "And don't say that you have a special link with your future self, cause that doesn't make any sense!"

But then Phineas couldn't stop himself from breaking down and hugging him.

"Feeerrrrbbbb..." he wailed, shoving his face in Ferb's shirt as he squeezed him tight. He could hear Ferb's reassuring voice still saying, "Don't worry about me, Phineas. I'm going to be fine."

"I sure hope so, Ferb," Phineas mumbled. "I sure hope you're okay."


	19. Chapter 19

**Chapter 19**

Phineas kept clutching onto Ferb, as if the ten-year-old one might suddenly fall away too. Everybody huddled around him, trying to give him reassuring words.

"But you haven't been to the future," Phineas kept saying. "You can't know if he's okay or not!"

Phineas tried to slowly force himself to unclench his grip around his brother, and back away for a moment. He looked up sadly at all his friends.

"I have to... I have to go back," he mumbled as he glanced all around the yard. "...Back to the future. I have to."

"But you're home now, Phineas," Isabella tried to console sweetly. "You don't have to worry anymore."

"But I can't just sit here without knowing what happened!" Phineas tried not to shout. "I have to see if he's okay..."

He turned his droopy eyes to look at Ferb, who stared back with concern. Phineas moaned softly, "...or else I'll worry for seven years about him."

"He IS okay, Phineas," Baljeet tried to mention. "He really is."

"I don't get why you guys keep saying that..." Phineas shook his head and flickered his eyes. "He fell right off of a tree that's over forty feet tall..."

Now Phineas was pacing all up and down the grass again. He stopped in his place, and stuttered, "The t-t-time machine...! At the museum, I'm my old self again and that machine travels on the same dimension..."

All his friends had followed him as he scrambled around the backyard in thought. He kept saying out loud, "I'll go there, to 2015... I could get there early... I could warn him not to go up there, or, or, lock him in a closet or something..."

"You don't have to do this, Phineas," came Isabella's repeating plea. But Phineas was already heading to the garage to grab his bike.

"Yes, I do!" he called out. Turning the corner into the open garage door, he stopped when he heard rushing footsteps behind him. Phineas turned around and saw Ferb standing at the edge of where the concrete floor met the driveway. Phineas gave a regretful frown.

"I have to go back, Ferb," Phineas said, a little quieter now. "Because I... I messed up time."

Walking slowly up to his brother, Phineas tried to explain the fretful thoughts in his mind. "You told me that we had something else originally planned to do that day, but I said we should go up the tree instead. If I wasn't there in the future, you were never supposed to be up there that day. ...Maybe it's because of me that you fell off."

Phineas dipped his head down low and revealed, "I thought I'd lost you when I first went there into the future. It took me longer than it should have, but I finally realized that I found you there. I traveled all the way through time to the distant 2015. And even that far away, I still found you there."

Backing up a little bit, Phineas pointed towards his red bicycle. "That's why I have to go back. I can't know that I'll lose you again in the future, not when I just found you there."

Ferb sighed and looked between Phineas and the bike. He finally opened his mouth and breathed, "I won't let you feel guilty over me, and I'll repeat myself: Teenage me is just fine. Don't ask me how I know it."

Attempting to open his mouth in reply, Phineas was stopped in mid-breath when he caught sight of Ferb's little tiny reassuring smile. It sent shivers of hope up Phineas' spine.

"You always, always will have the same smile, Ferb," Phineas told him, trying to share the small turn of his lip. "I just thought you should know that."

Ferb's smile grew just a little more, before Phineas heard his comforting voice again, telling him, "Everything we said to you out there was the honest truth. But I can see why you won't believe it until you see it yourself."

Then Ferb turned Phineas around and pointed at his bike. Phineas felt a gentle push on his back as he looked over his shoulder at Ferb. Phineas whispered softly, "…Can you apologize to the others for me? I don't like running off like this, but doing this really means a lot to me."

Ferb nodded, as Phineas made his way towards his bike. Grabbing the handlebars, he turned back to Ferb and mentioned, "Thanks, Ferb. You're the best."

Phineas pushed his feet on his pedals as fast as he could, as the wheels ran along the concrete sidewalk. Though Phineas knew that, since he was going to take a time machine, he didn't have to rush, it was really more a way to settle his own mind. So, he kept speeding down the road.

The ride to the museum was pretty quick, probably only about ten minutes on his bike. Phineas didn't bother to park anywhere, but rather left his bike on the side of the steps as he ran up them towards the door. Passing the front desk, he threw the price of admission upwards at it and continued at a sprint towards the 'Gadgets Through The Ages'.

The time machine was still right where Phineas remembered it. He leapt up onto the red velvet seat cushion, and looked at the dials and knobs before him.

"W-w-wait..." Phineas mumbled to himself. He stared at all the settings and lights before him, and came to a panicked conclusion. He didn't know what date it was in the future.

"Ummm..." Phineas tried to think out loud. He knew it was 2015. So he reached over and changed the 'Year' knob. And he remembered that Ferb had said, "It's been 2015 for eight months now." Phineas reached over and turned the 'Month' setting to _August._

"...No," Phineas whispered. If it had been a full eight months, then August would have passed already. Maybe it was September. Maybe... the first week of September.

He also knew it was Saturday. If it was 2015... the first Saturday in September, adding in the leap year, would be September 5th.

But Phineas had to get there early if he wanted to warn Ferb and prevent his fall. So when he leaned forward, he set the date to September 4th just to be safe. Then, he typed in the coordinates of their backyard.

Pulling the golden metal bar down, Phineas gripped onto it tightly with both of his hands. He closed his eyes with a squint, in anticipation of what would come next.

All Phineas heard was a bubbly 'bloop' noise, as a rippling wave of light purple energy originated from the little light at the top. It swept over the whole machine, until it disappeared, and the contraption had vanished along with it.


	20. Chapter 20

**Chapter 20**

As the purple wave settled, Phineas made out the familiar shapes of his backyard. He glanced at the digital readout on the dash of the time machine. It read September 4th, 2015.

Phineas' chest moved up in a huge deep breath, as he leapt out off of the red seat. He hesitantly turned to look at the giant leafy tree that sat in the yard.

A rush of horror shot through Phineas' stomach when he saw the treehouse at the top. The wood boards were freshly painted. The ropes were not frayed. None of the walls were rotted anymore. They had already fixed it. Phineas had gotten here too late.

Dropping to his knees in the grass, Phineas stared upwards at the project before him. There was one board up there that hadn't been replaced. One board that was splintered nastily at the end.

Though his heart was beating quickly, Phineas didn't know why. It should have been stopped, he thought. He couldn't stop staring at that broken board waaay up at the top of that five-story tree. His eyes followed the path that a falling body might take. There was nothing between that board and the flat green grass far below.

"Feeerrrbbb," Phineas cried as he grabbed some grass in his hands. "I don't know how you could've been okay..."

"Heya, Phin," came a cheerful voice behind him. Phineas instantly froze in his slumped over position as he stared at the ground with huge eyes, trying to process what he had just heard. Was that...?

"Long time no see," the voice interrupted his thoughts again. A ginormous smile spread Phineas' mouth open as he spun around on the grass, and looked at the person who had spoken.

"Ferb!" he exclaimed brightly as he pointed at him. There, standing in the grass near the house's sliding glass door, was the now-welcomingly-familiar figure of seventeen-year-old Ferb.

He stood there smiling-slightly amused-at Phineas. But then Phineas noticed that he was wearing his left arm in a white cast, and a fabric sling around his neck.

"Ferb!" Phineas repeated again, now sufficiently on his feet to go running towards him. But as Phineas reached him, he misjudged the fact that he was his ten-year-old self again. Now, all Phineas could reach to hug him was the bottom of his left leg.

He craned his neck to look up at Ferb's face. Then Phineas' jaw dropped and he said in bafflement, "Oh my gosh."

"What?" Ferb asked questioningly as he stared back down to him.

Phineas gulped and kept awing at him. Eventually, from his place clutched onto Ferb's leg, Phineas realized, "You are reeeaaalllyy _really_ REALLY tall!"

Ferb just grinned again, bending down to sit cross-legged in the grass. His movements were a little delayed with his arm in a sling.

Phineas looked at it and frowned, standing right next to Ferb and tapping his hard cast with his fingernail. He gazed back up at him and asked worriedly, "B-b-but how are you okay?"

Pointing to the very top of the tree, Phineas followed the falling path with his finger. He stopped when he was pointing at the ending patch of grass. He finally whimpered, "It-it's so far down..."

Ferb poked Phineas' shoulder to get him to look at him. He commented, "I'd love to tell you, Phin. I really would. But I had very specific instructions not to say anything to you about it."

"What! But I wanna knooowwww..." Phineas wailed. "Please please please tell me! It can't possibly that important that I shouldn't know, who told you not to tell me?"

"Somebody who I trust very much," Ferb replied truthfully. He smirked and gave a haphazard gesture over his shoulder to point his thumb at the sliding glass door.

Following Ferb's gesture, Phineas spotted his own seventeen-year-old self, sitting in the comfy chair by the window. When he noticed that both of them were looking at him, he smiled brightly and waved his whole arm over his head with enthusiasm.

"Whhaaa...!" Phineas reacted. "Myself told you not to tell me? But I'm myself too and I wanna know."

Ferb chuckled, "You made a pretty convincing argument to me, about ten minutes ago. And I'm perfectly fine, isn't that all that really matters?"

"But you hurt your arm..." Phineas made known sadly, lightly poking the cast with his finger again. "Did it hurt?"

"Only for the first hour or so," Ferb relayed with a shrug. "It's doing a lot better now, since it's been about a week."

"A week?" Phineas repeated with shock. "You mean all that happened LAST Saturday? I'm a week late?"

Then Phineas exclaimed loudly, "It's been a whole week and you're still hurt! Are you never ever going to be able to build stuff ever again?"

"Ph-Phineas, relax. You can stop worrying about me, it's making you think all irrationally," Ferb tried to console the distraught Phineas, placing a disproportionately large hand on his shoulder. Phineas looked down at it, and then locked hopeful gazes with Ferb again.

"The doctor says that I'll have the cast off in a couple of weeks, and I'll be good as new," Ferb explained, pausing to give a promising expression. "I'm going to be perfectly fine. There's no need to worry."

"I c-c-can go back... home, then?" Phineas stuttered as he pointed to the machine behind him. "...and, here in the future I haven't jumped anymore?"

"Yep," Ferb nodded, pushing himself up off of the grass to stand on his feet again. "It's been pretty quiet jump-wise here in the future since last week. Looks like that one was your last jump to here."

Phineas kept looking up at the now-really-tall Ferb and asked softly, "...Ferb?"

Ferb looked down attentively and responded, "Yes, Phin?"

Phineas shuffled his feet as he glanced down at them for only a moment. He mumbled, "...Will I ever see you again?"

One of Ferb's eyebrows went up in confusion. He replied, "That's a strange thing to ask, Phineas. You'll see me again in five minutes when you go back home."

But Phineas just kept looking at him as he twiddled his thumbs. Ferb gave a comforting sigh and squatted down, this time not sitting all the way in the grass. He looked Phineas in the eye and assured him, "And you'll see _this_ me again in seven years, I can guarantee you of that. And by the time you get here..."

Ferb dipped his head down, but grinned to show his hidden teeth. He held out his flat palm up towards Phineas. "...I'll still be your brother."

Phineas giddily took out his own hand and slapped it onto Ferb's. Then, they both swapped to fists and punched each other, even though Ferb's fist was considerably bigger than Phineas'. Phineas spun around in a big circle, as Ferb waved his fingers like a firework. Then, Phineas fell over into the dewy grass, giggling.

Ferb laughed happily, reaching down to help Phineas up, as he mentioned, "When I'm thirteen you can ask me to play you Flight of the Bumblebee, okay?"

"Okay!" Phineas answered, hopping up to start towards the time machine again. But then he stopped right in his tracks and jumped around to face Ferb.

"OH wait!" Phineas called out, running back up to him and pointed at his arm. "I want to sign your cast! Can I?"

"Haha, Phineas," Ferb laughed again, gently lifting his left arm out of the sling. He bent down a little and showed it to him. It was covered everywhere with colorful names, and Ferb tapped his finger at the top of it. "You sort of already did."

Phineas got up on his tiptoes to read some of it. He spotted the signatures 'Mom' and 'Dad,' as well as the flowing name of Candace, carefully symmetrical lettering of Baljeet, large print of Buford and delicately written name of Isabella. But written in a big, orange marker along the top of Ferb's cast was the playfully scribbled name of 'Phineas.'

"Oh," Phineas responded. But then he reached up far enough to pull on the corner of Ferb's shirt. "Well then I'll sign it twice!"

Ferb placed his hand over his mouth and choked on a giggle. He lifted his arm again, this time turning it a bit. He tapped onto the underside of it. "Phin… you actually already signed it twice."

"Huh?" Phineas questioned, jumping forward to see the spot. There, squeezed between a few other names, this time written in fine-tip blue marker, was a little signature of 'Phineas.'

"Why did I sign it twice?" Phineas said with a confused, cocked head.

Ferb just shrugged. "You just wanted to sign it twice for some reason. But really, nothing you've told me the past week has really made much of any sense, so I just went with it."

Then Ferb leaned over to a rolling workbench and grabbed a red marker. He handed it down to Phineas and said, "Here. Sign it thrice."

Phineas brightened up and snatched the marker, pulling off the top. Ferb leaned down to Phineas' level as Phineas grabbed the cast in one hand, and with the other, found an empty spot to draw his name onto it.

After Ferb had stood up, Phineas looked at Ferb's arm and nodded his satisfaction as he watched Ferb put it safely back into the sling.

Phineas then reached forward and gave Ferb another hug around the leg. He released him and mentioned, "Feel better soon, Ferb."

Ferb's face lightened and he nodded encouragingly. He watched as Phineas went back over to the machine and leapt into it. Ferb waved at him, saying, "You have nothing to worry about, Phin."

Phineas placed the golden bar over his lap, adjusted the dials, and looked back. He couldn't stop himself from smiling as huge as he could. Why shouldn't he? He had all this to look forward to!

And _not only_ did he have all this, he still had all this PLUS seven more summers waiting for him back home!

* * *

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**All My PnF Fanfics:**

**PnF: Timeloops**

**PnF: Ghosts**

**PnF: Stolen Identity**

**PnF: Stuck Like Brothers**

**PnF: Mind Trapped**

**PnF: Species is a Constant**

**PnF: Lifeleap (Viewing)**


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